


Avengers highschool

by LilSisBarton34



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Awesome Natasha Romanov, BAMF Hela (Marvel), Bruce Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Clint Barton Needs a Hug, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Odin's Bad Parenting (Marvel), Pietro Maximoff Lives, Pietro Maximoff is a Little Shit, Precious Peter Parker, Science Bros, everyone has secrets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 45
Words: 39,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26825218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilSisBarton34/pseuds/LilSisBarton34
Summary: Clint just wants to have a normal grade 11 year at school and to avoid the abuse at home. Then suddenly a boy in track suit outfits, seriously unfashionable hair and a cocky smirk puts a halt to that plan.Tony navigates having a crush on oblivious steve rogers as he deals with the crushing responsibility at home from his father, as well as all his friends Drama!Natasha never thought she would find love, love is for children. But then a stormy eyed boy with a murky past and a metal arm joins the ballet studio where she teaches and everything she thought she knew changes.Peter tries desperately to avoid Wade Wilson and keep his crush a secret from prying ears and eyes, but what is he going to do when someone finds out and threatens him, telling him he'd tell Wade about his crush unless he does some risky things...Thor is happy with the life he has: amazing friends, great sport's player and yeah, a pretty hectic family! But then he meets Peter Quill and his life is drastically thrown out of balance.Find out how this year, for everyone at Avengers high, is going to be like no other as our favourite teens battle romance, heartbreak, abuse and change.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Pietro Maximoff, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker/Wade Wilson, Peter Quill/Thor, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 64





	1. Ugh... first day of school

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, welcome to Avengers high! My names Lily and it would be amazing if you commented on my story, I don't mind criticism but please don't be to harsh! My chapters will be kinda short but to make up for it I will try to post two chapters each time! I'm not sure about my posting schedule but I will post two chapters at least every two weeks, hopefully two chapters a week. This story does have triggers in it and to anyone that gets triggered, I will put a warning at the top of the page so you can skip the chapter. And on with the show!

Peter Q's POV

"Peter! Get your ass down here in five seconds or you're on washing the dishes duty for a month!"  
I shot out of bed, eyes still blurry from sleep, I ran into the door yelping and muttering curses as I ran down the stairs.  
"What the hell Yondu?" I groaned,  
"First day of school boy, just to let you know schools starting in half an hour."

I ran up the stairs again cursing whoever came up with the idea to make school so early! I jumped out of my PJs, had a quick shower and contemplated what to wear. In the end I chose jeans, a black t-shirt, my red zip up sweater and black converse. I quickly tamed my curls, brushing them to the side of my head with my fingers and rushing to grab my school stuff. A loud beep jolted me as I grabbed my phone, I looked out the window seeing Gamora impatiently waiting in her car for me to get there. I slung my bag on my back running down the stairs, I grabbed an apple and bit into it shouting goodbye to Yondu before running into Gamora's car.

"Fucking finally." Gamora smirked racing out of my driveway and towards school.  
"Well, hello to you too!" I chirped finishing off my apple,  
We arrived at school 10 minutes later, parking in our usual spot, we walked past all the fake, plastic girls and their jock boyfriends.  
"Quill, Gamora!" Rocket, our short friend shouted,  
"Hey Rocket, Groot." I greeted as we walked through the schools front doors,  
"Where's Drax?" Questioned Gamora scanning the hall for our huge friend,  
"He's not here yet." Replied Groot,

Our whole group has pretty awesome nicknames, like mine is Starlord but everyone calls me Quill sometimes. Gamora's real name is Zoe, Rockets real name is Bradley, Drax's real name is David and Groot's real name is Kevin. We all compared our schedules and I groaned seeing I only had Gamora in English and none of my other friends in anything. Just then the warning bell rang and I sighed, walking towards my math class, which I had first. I took out my phone and as I looked down I slammed into someone falling on my but.

"Hey!" I cried out looking up in annoyance,  
I froze from fear seeing a huge, well fit boy standing in front of me, he was definitely a jock and was probably a bully. I flinched as he reached his hand out but he only helped me stand up again.  
"Apologies! I'm afraid I did not see you there!" Boomed the boy cheerfully.  
He kind of reminds me of a puppy, I thought.  
"Ah, it's okay...?"  
"Thor! And what might your name be?"  
"Peter, Peter Quill." I smiled gazing into his blue eyes.

I got lost in the moment and we just stared at each other not saying anything, then I snapped out of whatever just happened and rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. I continued on my way to English wondering what happened back there. What is It with me and running into things today?


	2. Ms. Vega

Steve's POV

I sat in my history class with Bucky, my best friend, beside me. Bucky was absentmindedly braiding and unbraiding his long, shoulder-length brown hair as he stared into the distance. I sighed, resting my chin on my hand as I thought about what sport's I would try out this year. Last year I played basketball and hockey but this year I was thinking of trying out for the rugby team, since my friends T'Challa, Sam, Thor and his friend Drax were on it.

"Okay class! Um... settle down, Okay?" Our teacher nervously squeaked, obviously new.  
I gave her a bright smile when she looked at me to make her feel less nervous, she smiled back.  
"Um, hello everyone! My name is Ms. Vega and I'm going to do attendance now... please raise your hand when I call your name so I can remember you faster!" Ms. Vega smiled tucking a peice of her short dark brown hair behind her tanned ear.  
"Let's see... Hannah Adams?"  
"Here."  
"Bruce Banner?"  
"H-here..."  
"Ethan Brookfield?"  
"Here!"

I zoned out until I heard my name being called and I answered, here. Ms. Vega sent the attendance to the office from her computer and walked back up to the front clasping her hands together.

"Right... today we're going to get to know each other better before we get into any work or projects, so can you all push your desks to the side of the room and make a circle on the floor?"  
There were multiple groans as we did as she asked and sat down on the floor.  
"We're going to each say our name and two things about us, I'll start! My name is Valentina, I am from Italy and me and my wife just moved here two months ago!"  
The class stared at her as whispers flew around.  
"Another thing you should know about me is that under no circumstances will I allow racism, homophobia or bad language in my class." Ms. Vega said sharp and clear, looking at all of us in the eye.  
"I'll go next... my name is Tony, my best friend is Bruce here and I love science and technology." A short, brown eyed and brown haired boy said,

Ms. Vega smiled at him and made a gesture for the next person to go,  
"My name is Kylie, I just got a new car and I'm going to Paris with my boyfriend over winter break!"  
I rolled my eyes unable to stop my action, all though I'm not the only one who did either.  
"My name is Steve, I love to draw and I grew up in Brooklyn with my pal here, Bucky." I announced when no one else made a move to go.

The class went by as each person shared a little fraction of who they were to the class and we all learned things about our classmates. The bell rang and we all got up, starting to move our desks back before being waved off by Ms. Vega who told us to go to our next class before we're late. I walked into gym and immediately saw Thor who was stretching to warm up.

"Hey Thor!" I greeted running over,  
"Steve guess what happened to me this morning? A small adorable boy ran into me! His name is Peter Quill!"  
I laughed patting Thor on the back before our gym teacher, Mr. Lawrence, yelled out:  
"Gimme some laps!"  
We took off as we chatted to each other about everything and nothing, just enjoying our time together.


	3. Love is for children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I'm sorry... I know it's only been a day but I'm on my free period right now and I really wanted to update!😂 I'll try not to be so random in my updates in the future. Hope you like the chapter!

Nat's POV

I slumped down into the caffeteria chair, stretching my legs out in front of me. Clint came and sat down beside me, wincing from an unseen injury. I ignored it and took out my lunch, knowing Clint (which I do) he wouldn't want any attention or sympathy. I placed an apple, a juice box and a ham sandwich in front of the thin boy and watched as the others came to sit down at the table. I quickly glanced over Clint, pulling his sweater sleeve down lower to hide the edge of a bruise.

"What's up?" Tony asked sitting down with a piece of pizza in hand,  
"Ughhh... I have Geography next!" Whined Sam sitting down on the other side of me.  
Then Bruce sat down followed by a mountain of papers. We all got into loud obnoxious chatter as we made plans to hang out this weekend.   
"Let's go to my house, my parents are away for the week so I have to babysit Morgan anyway."  
Morgan was Tony's seven year old sister that was adorable but feisty, she was also pretty smart but not as smart as Tony. We all nodded when a loud shout echoed throughout the caffeteria.  
"YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON WA-" a boy shouted excitedly until a brown haired boy beside him slapped his hand over the boys mouth,  
"Dramaaaa..." sang Clint grinning.

I rolled my eyes at my friends childish behaviour, but secretly inside I was glad that Clint was still joking around and childish despite all the shit he'd been through. I continued to eat as I scanned the crowd, bored out of my mind. I caught a glimpse of storm grey eyes burning into my green ones as I looked at a table on the other side of the caffeteria. I stared at the boy, caught in a silent staring contest until someone started talking to him and he turned away from me. I looked him over, I saw the glint of metal where his hand should have been and frowned. What happened to his hand, is his whole arm metal? I looked away, stuffing my thoughts in the back of my head to ponder later, I saw Clint looking at me with a raised eyebrow as he smirked.

"Someone finally caught your interest Tasha?"  
"Love is for children." I hissed, narrowing my eyes.  
Clint just shrugged and got into an idiotic conversation with Sam about whether a Hawk or a Falcon was better. Jeez, these guys are gonna be the death of me. I think I'm loosing actual brain cells hanging out with these idiots. I took a bite out of my cheese sandwich and listened to their bickering and Bruce's mumbling about formulas, we really need another girl in this group.


	4. It's not a date!

Peter P's POV

It's been a week since the first day of school and not much has happened. Scott almost shouted out into the whole caffeteria about my crush on Wade, while Wade was in the caffeteria! Me and Shuri almost blew up the whole school when we tried to do our own experiment (it failed). Loki and his brother Thor have been arguing all week because Loki stabbed Thor with a fork when he stole the last cookie their mom baked. I spent my days fantasizing about Wade while avoiding him at all costs at the same time. Oh, not to mention I hacked into powerschool and changed Scott's grade on a project he absolutely failed. Yep, not much has happened. Right now it's Monday and I'm listning to music as I wait for the bus, after another five minutes the bus pulled up and I got on. I went and sat next to Bruce who was a pretty great guy. He was real quiet and shy but we'd been talking over the past week and he'd opened up a bit and become more relaxed.

"Hey Peter." He smiled making room for me,  
"Hi Bruce!" I chirped sitting down,  
"Tony told me to say hi to you, he's allready at school."  
Tony and me are partners at robotics club and he's so awesome! He's like my role model, I'm excited to see him tonight to work on our robotics project! The bus arrived at school and I got off, I waved goodbye to Bruce and snuck up on Scott, scaring the living daylights out of him. Then I saw a familiar face walking straight towards me and I froze.

"Hey Peter!" Wade, freaking, Wilson said grinning down at me,  
"H-hey!" I stuttered trying not to blush,  
"My rugby tryouts are today, hope I'll see you there!" He said flashing me a smile and walking off.  
I stood there frozen, trying to get my brain to function again as I had a mental dance party.  
"Hey Peter, where ar- wow, you okay?" Tony asked walking up to me,  
"Mr. Stark, Wade just talked to Me!" I squealed bouncing on the balls of my feet from my rush of adrenaline.  
Tony just blinked and then grinned slinging his arm over my shoulders and walking with me into school.  
"Awwww... I feel like a proud Dad!"  
Then Loki, Shuri and Scott ran and jumped on me, shouting in excitement about my date.  
"I-its not a date!" I insisted, flustered,  
"Sure kid, keep telling yourself that..." Tony sighed walking off to class.


	5. The new kids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, thank you so much for the kudos and I've decided that I'm going to be posting two chapters every Wednesday. Nat and Wanda speak Russian in this chapter but I didn't write what it means because this chapters in Clints POV so he doesn't know what they're saying. I will write what it means when we have people that understand Russian POV. Please comment if you have the time and enjoy!

Clint's POV

I walked through the halls to my English class, actually not hungry for once because my Dad was passed out so I could grab something for breakfast! I walked in and sat down in the second to last row, I slouched down, bored because I had no friends in English. Then our teacher, Mr. Carson the worst teacher ever, walked in with a girl and a boy. The girl had pretty brown eyes with long brown hair, pale skin and was wearing black jeans, a dark red t-shirt with a grey sweater and red converse. The boy had longish hair that was a silvery white with dark brown roots, bright blue eyes, pale skin and was wearing a black and white tracksuit outfit with sneakers.

"This is Wanda and Pietro Maximoff everyone, yada yada be nice. Take a seat and were going to be watching a video which you'll have to write an essay about at home."  
Pietro went and sat with Hunter and his group straight away, great another bully to add to the list! Wanda was walking nervously down the isle, clearly not knowing where to sit. I smiled at her and indicated for her to sit by me with my head, she gave me a grateful smile and quickly sat down.  
"Hey, I'm Clint." I whispered as the lights went out and the video started playing,  
"I'm Wanda." She whispered back in a thick Russian accent,  
"You're from Russia? That's pretty cool, my best friend is too."  
"Hey, table at the back! Stop talking!" Mr. Carson yelled,  
I saw Pietro turn around and glare at me sending me a death look, I just rolled my eyes at him and continued to watch whatever boring video we were subjected cruelly to. Finally after what felt like two hours the bell screeched out and we packed up our stuff getting ready to go to lunch.  
"Ha ha, lunch!" I cried out victoriously,  
Wanda laughed at me and stood up, slipping on her bag.  
"Hey, wanna have lunch with me and my friends?" I asked walking out the door,  
"Sure! I mean, if it's okay with your friends."  
"Oh yeah, we always welcome people with open arms, plus Nat will be thrilled to have another girl in the group." 

We walked into the caffeteria and we started walking towards our table where the others were all ready.  
"Wanda! Come eat over here!" Pietro shouted in an even thicker accent,  
Wanda looked at the table full of bullies and cheerleaders with makeup caked on their faces.  
"I'm actually gonna have lunch with Clint and his friends Piet!"  
Pietro's cold eyes slid over to me and he gave me a if-you-hurt-my-sister-you're-dead kind of look, I just gave him a you-are-a-fucking-idiot look right back at him. He glared at me but I just turned around and continued on my way to our table.  
"What's going on with you and Santa Claus? And who's the new girl?" We're Nat's first questions as I sat down,  
"Just some jerk that's befriended the local bullies." I muttered,  
Wanda cleared her throat and I jumped back up, sending her an apologetic smile.  
"Oh guys, this is Wanda and she just came here from Russia!" I grinned "sorry for calling your brother a jerk by the way."  
"Oh it's fine, sometimes he really can be a pain in the but, he's not just a jerk though. He's actually really sweet and kind normally and is just overprotective of me."  
I gave her a look asking her if she was crazy and she just smiled,  
"Give him a chance."  
"No way," I said rolling my eyes "but anyway guys I invited her to eat with us."  
"Sup." Greeted Sam,  
"That's Sam, beside him is Bruce, beside Bruce is Tony and this is Natasha."  
"Welcome to the table of nerds!" Tiny announced spreading his arms wide,  
"Наконец-то девочка! А вы говорите по-русски, мы тайно составим заговор и захватим мир! " Nat grinned,  
I stared at her in suspicion, I could only understand a few basic words in Russian so I had no clue what they were talking about.  
"согласились, тогда мы объявим, что все школы должны быть снесены и что кошкам позволено стать президентом!"  
"New rule, this is a English speaking table only!" Tony groaned,  
Wanda pouted and we all burst out laughing, then Nat put a tub of pasta in front of me.  
"Есть." She ordered staring at me pointedly,  
I knew this word, Nat said it often to me. It meant eat.  
"I JUST said no Russian!" Tony whined,  
I grinned taking a bite of the pasta Nat made and surrounded myself with the calming destruction of my friends arguments, and for a little bit forgot about the pain and abuse that waited for me back home.


	6. If only

Wanda's POV

Me and Piet were walking home at the end of the school day, I watched as my converse crunched on the gravel we were walking on.  
"Who was the boy you were sitting with in class and at lunch?" Pietro asked quietly,  
"His name is Clint, he's super funny and friendly! He invited me to eat with him and his freinds Tony, Bruce, Sam and Natasha."  
Pietro just nodded looking at his feet.  
"What's wrong ртуть?" I asked using his childhood nickname, quicksilver.  
"Nothing... come on младшая сестра, let's have a race!"  
"We're twins, I'm only 15 minutes younger than you. I'm not your little sister and no way I'm not racing you! You're a trained runner, you'd win!" I whined,  
"I'll give you a ten second head start... ten, nine..."

I started to run and picked up speed as I raced away from Pietro, my bag bumped along my back as I ran. A happy laugh escaped me as I ran by startled families, I heard Pietro reach zero in the distance and heard a second pair of shoes slapping on and off the ground. I pushed myself a bit harder hearing he was gradually getting closer and closer to me, my chest and legs burned as I tried to suck enough air in to not pass out. I saw Pietro come up right behind me and I saw our house was just around the next corner. I sped towards it as fast as my legs would go but even then Pietro still came up beside me, I saw a huge grin on his face as we neared our house. Running always made Pietro happy. I reached my hand out and we both slapped our hands onto our front door at the same time, I collapsed onto the front step, heaving.  
"You're... getting better алая ведьма." Pietro encouraged using my nickname, scarlet witch.  
I rolled my eyes seeing Pietro was barely winded and was still standing, after a few minutes of calming down my pounding heart we went inside.

"Ms. Walsh were home!" I called out into our cozy home, the aroma of nuts and cinnamon wafted all throughout the house,  
"Oh, I'm in the kitchen! And please, call me Miranda!" Our adoptive mom called out.  
We walked in after taking our shoes and bags off and looked at the mess our kitchen was in.  
"What are you making?" Asked Pietro,  
"Cosmic cookies!"  
Me and Pietro grinned, cosmic cookies were our FAVOURITE! They were made out of oats, nuts, cinnamon, honey, choc chips, raisins and all the other basic cookie ingredients.  
"Come and help, I still need to mix all the dry ingredients together and then add them to the wet ingredients!"  
We set to work measuring and mixing as we sang along to let it go, I had a big smile on my face as we belted out the lyrics. These types of moments were my favourite, where we were all bonding as a family and doing something fun. Where we could forget about our past for a bit and just be in the moment, I looked at Pietro who was swinging his hips as he sang along. He was wearing a pink apron and had a goofy smile on him, I wish he'd show the real him at school. I wish he didn't put up a facade of arrogance and flirting, maybe then he'd make actual friends. Good friends like Clint and his group. I sighed pushing my thoughts away, I enjoyed the golden moment I was in.


	7. Who says boys can't dance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you had a good thanksgiving! Please comment if you have the time and well I'll let you get on with the story!

Bucky's POV

I stared at the flier in my hands, reading the words over and over. It said: the Ballet Academy East is looking for more dancers, beginner and advanced classes available. Beginners classes run by Katrina Bloom, Alexander Ingrid, and Natasha Romanoff. Advanced classes run by Merik Green, Sofia Walsh, Gavin Darnell and Thomas Graves. Ballet builds confidence, grace, strength and endurance in the most beautiful way! Beginners classes cost $50 for two days a week, advanced classes cost $90 for three days a week. Ever wanted to pursue your dream of becoming a ballerina? Girl or boy, man or woman you need to look no further! To register call...

"Bucky watcha doing?" Rebecca my 12 year old sister asked as she walked into my room,  
I tried to hide the flier but quick as lightning she grabbed it and scooted away from me.  
"Becca, give it back!" I groaned,  
"You wanna do Ballet? Awesome!  
I rested my head onto the back of my chair and closed my eyes as I sighed,  
"No... maybe, look it's complicated!"  
"Not really."  
"Becca what if people found out? This is the kind of thing kids get bullied for."  
"James Barnes if this is something you want to do then do it, it doesn't matter what other people think. If you choose to not do something you wanted to it Will come back and haunt you for the rest of your life. If anyone bullies you me and steve'll go beat em up!"  
I laughed at her and nodded, thinking it over. I took my phone out and called the number on the flier.

"Hello, how can I help you?" A kind Brazilian accented voice asked,  
"Um, I'd like to register for beginner classes please..."  
"Oh, wonderful! Can I get your name and age please?"  
"James Barnes, 18."  
"All right that means your in... Natasha's class! My name is Ms. Azevedos and I will be the face you see every day when you arrive. It will cost $50 per week and you have two, three hour classes each week. We provide all equipment but you do need to buy your own clothes and appropriate ballet shoes. You will be starting classes next week so you'll want to get your gear as soon as possible. Any other information you want to know like where we're located is on our website."  
I thanked her and hung up, I sat back down at my desk again and went onto their website. I looked at the type of clothes and shoes I had to buy and grabbed my wallet, slipping my shoes on. I ran down the stairs and headed to the nearest ballet shop.


	8. Chaotic good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't have time yesterday to post the second chapter but I'm making up for it by posting it today. I'm also sorry that it's short but it's kinda a filler chapter.

Thor's POV

I was sitting in my room doing homework when Loki burst in,  
"Hey girl, that instant pot is hot!" He shouted at me randomly,  
"Loki go annoy Hela, I'm busy!" I sighed,  
"Oh I all ready did, she said if I didn't stop memeing that she'd stab me in my elbow!"  
"What? Why your elbow? You know what nevermind." I groaned,  
Loki shrugged and looked at my homework,  
"You have to do homework? Your life must be so hard."  
I gave Loki an annoyed look and he huffed dramatically flopping onto my bed.  
"Okay sister, spill the tea!"  
"Oh for Pete SAKE Loki, what on earth are you talking about know? I'm not going to go spill tea."  
"Ughhh, you are such a boomer!"  
"I'm a what?" I spluttered staring at Loki,  
Loki rolled his eyes and rolled onto his stomach resting his chin on his hands.  
"Basically, what's the gossip?"  
"There's no gossip." I said with a small smile as I thought about Peter,  
"Oh yeah? Cause I saw you run into Quill and have a huge, goofy smile on your face for the rest of the first day of school!"

My face heated up as I glared at Loki who started grinning like a Cheshire cat.  
"Yes, my ship is sailing!"  
"Ship?" I asked, slightly used to Loki's random ways,  
"That's it! I can't be around you anymore you uncultered mewling squim!" Loki declared walking out of my room,  
I stared at the place my younger brother had been standing and shrugged, I started to finish my homework. Yep I have one of the weirdest, probably most crazy family's! I sighed, enjoying my peace and quiet, in this house it was rare to get a moment of peace.  
"LOKI GET BACK HERE OR I WILL STEAL YOUR DRAG QUEEN MAKEUP!"  
"ARTH THOU MAD, SISTER?"

Well, somewhat peaceful.


	9. My home life

Tony's POV

"Steve." I said rolling the word around my mouth,  
Steve the blonde haired, blue eyed boy from Brooklyn. The boy I was absolutely smitten with from just one perfect smile and sentence.  
"Tony, get ready for school! Did you finish the latest Stark designs I gave to You?" My Dad, Howard Stark, asked standing in my doorway,  
"They're almost done..." I mumbled getting out of bed,  
"Finish them by tonight."

I sighed kicking my door closed as I grabbed some clothes to change into, I pulled on a AC/DC t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I looked at the dark bags under my eyes and grimaced, I'd been up countless nights working on my Dad's projects. Half of the weapons and tech in Stark industries was designed by me because I am quite literally a genius! Not to brag but I should be in an advanced college, not stuck in highschool. Though I'm kinda glad cause it means I'm at least around people my age, at college I'd be surrounded by adults. Not to mention my friends too. My weird, wonderful, secretive friends. Bruce is really smart and has a big heart if you give him a chance and get past his shyness, Nat really is a mystery but is also a badass and awesome. Clint, who I like to call Nat's twin, can be really funny, is quite talented and always wears long sleeves no matter how hot it is. Sam who is an idiot but our idiot, great at sports and a bird lover by nature. I glanced over the designs for some sort of new weapon my dad wanted, I calculated numbers and theories on how to finish it. I sighed running a hand through my greasy hair, god I really need a shower. I bit my lip deciding I'd have one tomorrow when I finished the designs, I shuffled downstairs to grab breakfast.

"Good morning Darling!" My mom, Maria, greeted,  
"Morning Mom, morning Morgan." I said roughling Morgan's hair,  
"Hey Tones, guess what!? My friend Ava got a new puppy!" She squealed,  
I grinned sitting down as Jarvis placed a plate of pancakes in front of me. I tasted the fresh, buttery goodness as Morgan described exactly what the puppy looked like to Mom.  
"Morgan! Come clean up your room, it's a mess!" Dad shouted from the other room,  
Morgan narrowed her eyes and stomped upstairs, she already cleaned her room just yesterday. Dad was hard on both me and Morgan, he expected Morgan to be responsible, tidy and formal which was a lot of stress for a girl her age. I finished eating and grabbed my bag putting the lunch Jarvis made into it, I walked outside and got into the car I bought myself on my 17th birthday. I pulled out of the driveway and hummed along to mindless pop songs. I arrived and parked in the student parking, getting out I walked in and saw Clint and Nat arguing about something.  
"It could be broken! You have to at least go to the school nurse!" Nat hissed angrily,  
"You know exactly why I can't! Drop it Tash." He shot back,  
They immediately stopped when they saw me watching them, I noticed Clint's wrist was slightly bent at the wrong angle and my eyes widened. I walked over with concern.  
"Clint is your wrist broken?"  
"It's. None. Of. Your. Business! Just leave me alone, I'm fine!" Clint spit with fury in his eyes,  
He stomped off towards his class as we watched him go, I saw Nat's gaze turn sad and fearful as she watched him go. I took one more glance at Nat before I mumbled a sorry excuse about the bathroom and walked to class.

I slid into my seat as a wave of exhaustion hit me,  
"Did you get any sleep last night Tony?" Bruce asked eyeing my bags,  
"Nah, was too busy partying and inventing cool robots!" I lied,  
Yeah, my friends don't know my secret but then again, we all have secrets. Even Bruce does, although Nat and Clint's secret seems to be big and they seem to be just barely keeping it hidden. I'll find out what it is one day.  
"Settle down everyone! We're going to be starting our topic on the second world war, to start were going to be watching a movie and I want you to finish this information sheet on the movie for homework."  
Ms. Vega started the movie and turned off the lights, Ms. Vega had become a lot more relaxed teaching us and was really quite a awesome teacher. I zoned out already knowing all about WW2. I focused on Steve, watching how the light from the movie reflected off of Steve's bright blue eyes. I watched how interested and engaged he was with the movie and how he slightly leaned forward when the main character was hiding from the Natzis invading her house. I could get lost watching Steve forever I thought dreamily. But 10 minutes later into the movie all those sleepless nights caught up to me and I felt my eyelids grow heavy and tired. I rested my head on the desk and was out like a light.


	10. The baby project

Pietro's POV 

We were standing outside Mr. Carson's door as we waited for him to arrive. I saw Wanda talking to Clint as she eyed his wrist, I smirked deciding my new hobbie would be tormenting him. Mr. Carson finally arrived with another woman beside him. He unlocked the door and we all started flowing in slowly, I walked beside Clint and as we just entered the classroom I stuck my foot out and tripped him. He fell forward and put his hands out to break his fall, he cried out as his hands touched the floor and whipped a hand up. He looked up at me angrily but I could see pain clouding his eyes, I frowned wondering why he felt so hurt. I walked over to Hunter who was grinning at me and high fived him. Yeah, a part of me knows that what I'm doing is wrong but whenever I think of Clint I feel weird, I feel something I shouldn't think. The only way I can get rid of those feelings is if I bully him. I think...  
"Everyone this is Ms. Smith and she will be starting a new project with you that is actually new to the school... so follow her and she will bring you to her classroom."  
We all started following her and she led us to her classroom, we looked around confused as we saw there was no desks and there were child developmental posters everywhere.

"All right come sit down on the mat please. As you know my name is Ms. Smith and I am the child studies teacher. I am aware that none of you have signed up for this course but starting this year it is now mandatory."  
I looked at Hunter and Josh worried, a child studies teacher? And we have to take this course?  
"I know that most of you will not enjoy this project but it's half of your grade and is mandatory. There has been a spike of cases done in a student survey of families that used to go to our school and had children that they didn't know how to look after. There has been an increased number of child sickness, injury and even death that could have been prevented. The school board has come together and decided to make every grade 11 student do the baby project in order to lower those rates."  
I stared at her as she spoke, this project did not sound good. What were we gonna do? Visit a daycare and look after the kids? I started to get antsy from the dread of our project.  
"The project lasts for exactly a week and you and your partner, which I will be choosing, are going to look after a robotic baby for the entire week together. The baby is the same size and weight as a five month old and have speakers on them of recorded baby noises that they make. So they cry, whine, burp and make normal baby noises. You and your partner will have to feed them, change them, rock them and burp them. You will be given special bracelets that you cannot take off without being stretched so I will know if you've taken them off, the baby will only react to you if you press the bracelet to their chest where they chime and then you can care for them. This way you can't pass the baby onto anyone else to look after and only you and your partner can look after them. The baby's have internal thermometers that read the temperature and will assess what you have put them in with the temperature. You will be provided with baby clothes for them. You will also be provided with a baby sling, bottle, two different coloured diapers, blanket, carseat so you can drive them places and a bag to carry your things in. The baby's will start to whine and then cry when they need a care and it is your job to figure out what care they need and give it to them, if you ignore them they will cry for two minutes and then stop and record a missed care which will lower your mark. The baby's neck is on a rotation cord that swivels and you have to support when they are picked up just like a normal baby's neck. If you don't support their neck they will start to scream and you will have to rock them untill they calm down, it will be recorded and lower your mark if you let it happen. You will be given the baby in a month on a Monday and they will be returned to my classroom the following Monday. If you break the baby's in any way you will be responsible for buying a new one and let me tell you, robot babies are NOT cheap. You will have to bring your babies with you to your classes and your teachers are aware, this is a PARTNER project which means your partner also is with you and the baby the whole school day, lunch, classes, everywhere. So you will be skipping some of your classes to go to your partners class and your partner will do the same. You will also be sleeping with your partner because the babies wake up at night and need to be cared for as well. So choose a house for you or your partner to stay at the whole week. Right any questions?"

We stared at her shell shocked, this was a lot of information to just spring on us. I mean we were gonna be PARENTS for a whole week!  
"Ummm... how do we know which care they need?"  
"Excellent question Riley, you don't know which care they need. You will have to try every care until you find the one they need."  
We continued to stare at her as if she had two heads and the teacher sighed, rolling her eyes.  
"All right I'm going to tell you your partners now, some of you will be partners with boys or with girls and I have done this on purpose. To show what it is like to raise a child in a straight, gay and lesbian family. All right... Jasmine and Ethan, Chloe and Olivia, Jessica and Luke, Zoey and Peter, Mark and Justin, Clint and Pietro, Eva and Jane, Hunter and Elizabeth, Alexis and Brett, and Samarah and Riley."  
I looked at Clint who was staring at me, he gave me a glare full of hurt and venom. It was so poisonous I leaned back a bit. He stood up and grumpily sat next to me when the teacher asked us to sit with our partners, I noticed his wrist was bent at an odd angle and I froze, did I break his wrist!? I only tripped him! Oh god, did I really break It?  
"Don't even think about asking me about my hand." Clint grit out staring straight ahead.  
I quickly looked away and saw Hunter looking at me with a grin, he glanced at Clint then back at me and made a kissy face. I looked down, at that moment I really wished I wasn't friends with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I hope you liked this as much as I Did! Not gonna lie this chapter was fun to write. The baby project is actually a real thing that I did in school last year for child studies, I only took the baby home for one night and I didn't have a partner but I think we can all agree that it's gonna be a lot more interesting this way! Awww, can you just imagine teenage Clint and Pietro looking after a baby together? So cute!


	11. Looks like a freaking God!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, I'm excited to bring you the two next chapters! I also just wanted to say I'm gonna be 15 tomorrow! And happy b-day to anyone else with a birthday this month!

Gamora's POV

I frowned staring at my chicken wrap, we'd just been told that we had to do something called the baby project. I was not looking forwards to it, who wants to look after a screaming robot? It could have been worse though, at least I got paired up with Peter and not a stranger, that would have been pretty awkward. To be honest I'm glad that me and Peter still have a great relationship, we had a spark a few years ago and dated but that ended. We're more like best friends now. Plus I'm like 95% certain that Peters gay and if he's not gay he's definitely bisexual.

"Quill and Gamora are going to be parents, HAH!" Drax shouted as he slapped his leg in amusement,  
Mantis, who sometimes hangs out with us, laughed along with Drax. I rolled my eyes as I stabbed my wrap with my fork, Peter was too busy listening to his 80s music on his walkman. Then a small explosion happened in a classroom as two kids ran out of it hysterically laughing.  
"Shuri, that's the fourth time this week you've blown up something!" A guy said from across the caffeteria,  
"Sorry T'Challa!" She shouted before they ran off giggling when a teacher started walking towards them angrily.  
Rocket was fiddling with some sort of tech while Groot happily munched on his salad, Drax was busy texting Thor, one of his sport freinds, while Mantis was trying to sneak a peak at their conversation.  
"Starlord, you didn't tell me you ran into Thor!"  
Peter took his headphones off and looked at Drax puzzled.  
"Because it's not that important? And how do you know about that?"  
"Why, Thor's my friend! He also said that you were very cute!"  
Peter's face went red as he gasped from embarrassment, a sly smirk spread across my face as I stood up.  
"WHICH ONE OF YOU LOSERS IS THOR!" I shouted looking around,  
"Gamora, what are you doing!?" Peter hissed,

The caffeteria went silent until a teen raised their hand and stood up, walking towards us. Holy shit, no wonder this guys name is Thor, he looks like a Norse God! He was extremely well built and had long, thin, just past his shoulders length gold hair with blue eyes.  
"Ah, Drax! These are your friends that you have been talking about!" He said cheerfully,  
Then his gaze fell on Peter and he practically beamed with happiness.  
"Peter! We meet again!"  
Peter blushed and melted into his seat from the intense stare I was giving him, even Groot was watching what was happening.  
"Hey... funny seeing you here." He said weakly,  
Thor grinned sitting down at the table, never taking his eyes off of Peter for a second.  
"Thor, Quill and Gamora are going to be parents!"  
"She's Gamora." Groot said,  
I slammed my hand on the table in annoyance when Thor raised his eyebrows at me questioningly.  
"Robot baby! We're not gonna be actual parents!" I growled,  
"Ahhh... you're doing this for school?" Thor asked,  
"Yeah, everyone in grade 11 has to because recently shitty parents have been killing their kids by accident." I sighed,  
Suddenly a loud ticking noise sounded and was getting more frantic and closer together.  
"Shit!" Cursed Rocket frantically fiddling with a piece of tech,  
"Rocket, why the hell would you build a bomb at school!" I hissed trying not to attract attention,  
"It's a small bomb! I was gonna plant it in my history class so that I wouldn't have to do history!"

I rolled my eyes, typical Rocket. Then the ticking stopped and we all sighed in relief slumping back in our chairs.  
"Well... erm, I better get back to my friends!" Thor stated standing up nervously.  
We watched him walk back across the caffeteria and then Mantis patted Peter on the back sadly.  
"Sorry Peter, but I think we scared your future husband off."  
Peter choked from his water bottle that he had been drinking as his face turned unbelievably red.  
"Seriously guys!?"


	12. How could I be so stupid?

Peter P's POV

"Do it Pete!" Cheered Scott,  
"No! We barely know each other, what if he says no and thinks I'm an idiot or if he makes fun of me or..." I mumbled,  
"Woooooooow Peter, chilax. If you think something bad is gonna happen then it probably will, if ya act positive then everything will probably be fine. I doubt Wade is a douch bag if you've fallen for him. It's all in the attitude!" Shuri grinned,  
"Yes, preach sister!" Loki sang  
We all burst out laughing, a few people gave us weird looks but we just grinned harder at them. The whole school will learn to ignore our weirdness, eventually.

I waved goodbye and walked to science, I pondered what they said. Should I ask him out? I was still so nervous and undecided. I mean it baffles me how people go about asking other people out, the science of you having to like them at the right time and them having to like you back. It amazes me how common it is to date people when the odds are so great. I walked in and dropped my bag off, I felt fidgety and restless so I got up again and asked if I could go to the bathroom. I walked down the hall and into the boys bathrooms. I walked into a cubicle and locked the door, resting my head on the cool plastic of the door I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Come on Peter, he's just a boy. Just a boy. A boy that you only wanna ask to get coffee with sometimes or hang out.  
"God, why is so difficult?" I muttered into the door,  
I thought I heard someone walk in but then I only heard silence so I decided I was alone, I sighed banging my head on the door a bit.  
"Its fine, this is fine. Just walk up to Wade and ask him out. I mean I don't know if he's gay... anyway you can do this Peter."  
I opened my stall and stepped out, I froze seeing another boy leaning against the sink. He was grinning at me and holding his phone out... videoing me. My body just couldn't react, my mind didn't know what was happening or what this meant. Then it slowly dawned on me like my mind was thawing and starting to function again.  
"Hiya Peter." He leered stepping towards me,  
No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening! Oh God! I felt my skin go itchy and hot with dread and anger. How could I be so stupid?  
"So... heard you gotta little crush on Wade! Isn't that right?"  
I swallowed hard and felt my throat start to burn from the tears I forced back, crying would just be the freaking cherry on top!

"You know Wade's straight right? I wonder what he'd think if I showed him this little video of you..."  
I felt myself deflate as he said Wade was straight, how could one day destroy me emotionally so much? This person had a video basically admitting I have a crush on Wade and Wade is straight, he's gonna show Wade. I dragged my hands in my hair and gripped on in panic.  
"Please... d-don't!" I stuttered,  
"W-why n-not!?" He laughed cruelly," how about this, if you do some things for me, I might consider not showing Wade. How's that?"  
No, this isn't fair. This isn't right. I wanted to cry and punch him in the face at the same time. He walked up close and grinned down at me as I clenched my hands into fists.  
"My names Hunter. So we got a deal Petey?"  
I looked down in shame and nodded, there was nothing I could do but do as he said. Wade can't know, I can't loose him. Hunter chuckled and walked out of the bathroom, I sank to my knees as a sob escaped from me. How did this happen? How did things spiral out of control so fast? I curled up on the floor as my whole world shattered and broke around me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have cried a little when I wrote this... its aweful I know! Poor Peter, our precious cinnamon role. But unfortunately my story needs a bit of sadness and conflict to be good, hope you didn't cry to much!


	13. It's her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for Christmas, it actually snowed here yesterday! XD

Bucky's POV

I tapped my hand on the desk as I kept checking the time on my phone, today after school was my first dance lesson. Steve was watching me with a somewhat annoyed but amused face, I told him a week ago that I was joining dance and he had been nothing but supportive. He really was a great pal, we'd been so close ever since I met him as a kid, when his tiny body was standing up to a bully that stole a girls toy. He'd been really sick as a child, I'd spent countless days and nights sitting next to Steve at his bed, helping his Ma. Sarah was a nurse at the hospital so she usually tended to Steve herself, especially since we grew up very poor. That woman was a saint, never once did she show the exhaustion she must have felt to be constantly working and have to look after her sick child. I'd helped wherever I could. I remember one night, Steve had gotten so sick. He could barely breath and wouldn't eat anything. His pale frame dwarfed by blankets as he lay in bed, we had been nine years old. I thought Steve was gonna die, when we walked out of Steve's room to grab more water and washcloths I had broken down. I had burst into tears and told Sarah how scared I was, I didn't want to loose the only friend I had. She had held me close to her and kindly but sternly told me that moping around wouldn't save Steve, he would be just fine if we did what we could to help him. She had been right, Steve got better. Eventually we got him to see a specialist doctor that prescribed Steve injections to boost his immune system so he could fight off sicknesses better. He took them twice a day and eventually regained full health, he doesn't need to take them anymore. Steve used to be tiny and frail but now he's super healthy, he's even bigger than me now! I was snapped out of my thoughts as the bell rang, I jumped up and grabbed my bag, heading out the door.

"Good luck Bucky!" Steve cheered as I ran out the door,  
I grinned as I flew past surprised students that were talking to friends or texting on their phones.  
I clomped down the stairs and walked through the front doors, I headed to the parent parking and drop off where I saw our dark red, beat up jeep. I saw Rebecca lean into the front of the car and beep the horn twice at me, I smiled as I saw Mom scold Becca. I opened the door and hopped in, I saw my ballet bag already in the car.  
"Wooh, let's do This!" Becca screeched,  
"This is so exciting Bucky, finally you actually tell me something you wanna do!" Mom gushed as she pulled out of the parking lot.  
I just smiled and looked out the window, I was excited, sure but I was also a huge ball of nerves. I mean, I didn't know what I was gonna be walking into. After half an hour of driving we pulled into the studios parking lot, I could barely breath I was so nervous! I nervously got out of the car and grabbed my ballet bag, thankful it wasn't pink or girly. I didn't want to make any enemies on my first day. We walked in and right away I saw Ms. Azevedos sitting at a desk, she had dark brown skin and short fuzzy black hair. She was wearing a pretty green top with silver stitches running along it, she had a big sweet face that beamed into a huge beautiful smile as she saw me.  
"James! This must be your family, it is a pleasure to meet you all!" She welcomed in the same African accent,  
I saw her eyes linger on my metal hand that wasn't covered by my sleeve and I held my breath, she only looked up to me and gave me a kind, knowing smile. It wasn't filled with sympathy... something else. Mom arranged the payment for my first two classes while me and Becca looked around with big eyes at all the ballet posters and artifacts displayed. Then mom kissed me on the cheek which I whacked her away, Ms. Azevedos laughed at that. Then Becca playfully punched me in the arm and gave me a fake salute.  
"Show em who's boss!" She grinned as they walked out.  
I took a deep breath and walked up to Ms. Azevedos desk.

"If you come with me I'll show you where the changing rooms are and where your class is James."  
"Thank you, and please, call me Bucky."  
"Sure. I must say, why on earth is your nickname Bucky?" She laughed good naturedly,  
"My middle name is Buchannan." I smiled,  
She nodded and stood up and started walking towards a double door, I froze as I saw the way she limped. I saw a bit of plastic where her ankle was supposed to be. She had a prosthetic leg. She turned around and raised her eyebrow at me.  
"Are you coming?"  
I nodded and we walked in, then she opened a grey door, inside were stalls, benches and lockers. A few boys were packing things away or waiting to change in the cubicles. They all waved hello to Ms. Azevedos and she said hello to all of them.  
"This is one of the boys changing rooms."  
I nodded and we moved on, next she led me down another hallway and opened another door. Inside was a room with a mirror on the left wall with bars attached to it, the floor was wooden with a small speaker set up in a corner of the room. I saw lots of girls talking and sitting around with a few other boys.  
"This is where your classes will take place."  
"Thanks." I said quietly as I looked around,  
"Bucky if you need anything, and I mean anything, you can come to me. Even if someone's giving you trouble for your arm, I know all about what it's like."  
I smiled, genuinely touched at her kind words, I promised and she smiled squeezing my arm before leaving. I walked back to the boys changing room and slipped inside, hoping no one would notice me. I felt eyes on me though as I waited for a cubicle.  
"Hi, my name's Jack." A boy seemingly my age said as he smiled at me.  
He had long light brown hair and green eyes, his hair was slightly curly and he had freckles all over his face. He had pale skin and an American accent, he was wearing ballet shorts and a top. He was a tiny bit shorter than me and had the kind of face you could read exactly what he was thinking.

"I'm Bucky."  
He smiled and I saw he had braces, then someone scoffed from across the room.  
"You don't wanna hang out with him Bucky, he's a nerd." The guy was and blonde, not Steve blonde though,  
I saw Jack visibly deflate at the guys words and hunch in on himself slightly. Anger bubbled up beneath my skin and I glared at Blondie.  
"I'll be friends with who I want." I growled,  
Jack looked at me surprised, obviously thinking I would be friends with the so called "Cool guys".  
Then I quickly moved into a free cubicle and changed, I was wearing a t-shirt and ballet pants. I put my hair up in a high ponytail to stay out of my face and grabbed my bag stepping outside. Everyone stared at the metal of my prosthetic arm and I prepared for cruel jokes and taunts.  
"Dude, your arm is so Cool!" A died dark blue haired boy said in awe.  
"Your like a superhero!" Jack grinned,  
Then I put my bag in a locker, Jack asked me lots of questions about it like how it bent and how I could move it. Then when he found out we were in the same class he pulled me along to it. It was nice to have Jack by my side, I felt a bit braver. Jack was kinda cute, his nose scrunched up adorably when he was excited. I glanced around at the other people and noticed a few from school, Peggy Goddard was here and her cousin Sharon. Not gonna lie, I kinda find Sharon annoying, especially since she tried to hit on Steve last year. Then quiet fell across the class as another girl walked in, I froze when I saw who it was. It was the red haired girl I'd seen in the caffeteria, she was wearing all black clothes and a tank top with shorts. He hair was in a headband and she had a determined look on her face.  
"My name is Natasha and I'll be your beginners classes instructor, any questions?"


	14. Ugh, oh...

Clint's POV

I crept down the stairs as quietly as I could, beer bottles were strewn across the floor. The sharp stench of booze filled my nose as I silently crept into the kitchen. Normally I wouldn't be down here at all, it would be too dangerous if my Dad caught me but I was starving. I could handle the normal starving but we had school off on Friday and it's sunday now, the last thing I ate was the lunch Nat gave me on Thursday. I was driven by desperation to get something, anything to eat. I couldn't go to Nat's house because she was working today and I couldn't show up at my other friends houses looking like death warmed over. I opened the first cabinet and saw a package of unopened moldy bread, the next had a can of beans and spaghetti. I couldn't cook anything, it had to be a grab and go. I opened the fridge as quietly as I could and looked inside, my heart soared with joy as I saw a half eaten apple inside. It wasn't too brown, I grabbed it and scanned for anything else. I found nothing and sighed, I slithered back up to my room and climbed out of my window and down the tree next to it. I ate every last bit of the apple I could but it barely quenched my hunger. My stomach growled asking for more, I huffed and decided to take a walk since I had nothing better to do. I kept my head down so no kids got spooked by my condition and watched the ground with interest. 

"Clint?"   
Fuck, I kept walking in the hopes they left me alone. I felt Tony start to catch up to me and I mentally started to freak out.   
"Clint, what are you doing dude? I just wanna hang out."  
I felt him grab my shoulder and my eyes widened, I grabbed his hand and ripped it off of me.  
"Don't touch Me!" I screamed stumbling back,  
Tony stared at me in shock, I realized what I'd just done and cursed myself.  
"Tony... look, I'm s-sorry." I stuttered,  
He took a step towards me as concern filled his face,  
"Clint, what happened to you? What really happened, don't give me any bullshit answers."  
I groaned and sat down on the edge of the grass beside the sidewalk, Tony sat beside me and we watched cars drive by. I felt so hungry and tired, so upset and done with everything. My emotions bubbled up and I couldn't do anything to stop them, I felt tears drip down my face as my vision blurred.  
"Aww shit, I'm no good with this kinda stuff... hey, I'm here if you wanna talk, Kay?"  
I nodded and felt Tony gingerly wrap his arm around me, I resisted the urge to attack and leaned into his touch.  
"T-tony, can I get something to eat at your house?" I muttered miserably,  
I was too hungry to worry about what Tony would think, I just needed food.  
"Fuck that, I've got money on me. Let's go buy you stuff now."  
Tony helped me up and we shuffled into the supermarket, I looked at a bunch of small things and their prices. I picked up a few of the cheapest things I could find, I didn't want to make Tony spend too much money on me. I turned around and saw he had a bunch of food in his arms, they were all healthy expensive things at the plenty. I saw a whole vegetable and cooked chicken meal as well as two water bottles, a packet of Oreos and a fresh made sandwich.   
"Tony you don't have to get me that stuff... I only need a few things, this'll be enough." I said showing him the crackers and cheese and a box of cheap cookies.  
"For goodness sake Clint, you look like you're about to faint from exhaustion and hunger. I'm a rich guy, I wanna get this stuff for you!"

Without another word Tony waltzed up to the check out and bought the food, I rolled my eyes and placed the other stuff back. We walked out of the store as Tony led us to a park, it was actually a nice day. Lots of kids were running around and playing when we got there. We sat down under a tree and Tony handed me the food, I tried not to eat it too fast and wildly so I didn't look too desperate but there's only so much you can do when the only thing you've eaten in three days is an apple. I finished everything in under five minutes.  
"When was the last time you ate?" Asked Tony quietly,  
"Twenty minutes ago."  
"I'm not an idiot, when did you actually eat?"  
"Twenty minutes ago!" I insisted,  
"What was It?"  
"Half an apple..." I mumbled,  
"Jesus, when was the last time you ate before that?"  
"None of your business!" I growled,  
We sat in silence and I sighed resting my head on the back of the tree.  
"I wanna help, I know that Nat knows what's going on and I know she helps in whatever way she does. But I wanna help too, we all do. I think we should come clean on all of our secrets." Tony insisted,  
"Maybe."

Just then my phone (which I'd spent an arm and a leg on) pinged, I took it out and read the message. It was Barney, he said Dad was awake and on a rampage. He told me to spend the night at Nat's.  
"You okay?" Tony asked,  
"Yeah."  
"Can I just ask one thing. You're not homeless are you?" I felt the real genuine fear and concern floating off Tony and I smiled at him,  
"Nah, I gotta house."   
Tony nodded and stood up, gathering the garbage. He looked reluctant to leave me though.  
"Tony, I'm gonna be fine. Go home." I laughed,  
He nodded and reluctantly walked off. When he was gone I called Nat telling her I was gonna spend the night.


	15. Aoife

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honour of remembrance day I will be posting my two chapters today.

Steve's POV

I was sitting in the park, it was a beautiful day and I couldn't resist going. My back was resting against the trunk of a tree and the shade provided sanctuary for me to be able to see what I was drawing. My sketchbook was in my lap as I sketched little and big lines, all connecting and having a purpose. I was sketching a boy from my history class, Tony. He was sitting a bit away with another light brown haired boy. I hadn't meant to draw him, it just ended out that way. He was a good model though, striking jaw line, perfect lips, long majestic eyelashes and big brown eyes. I finished my quick sketch and smiled in satisfaction, I saw Tony stand up and walk off five minutes later. The other boy left two minutes later after calling someone on his phone. I lay down on the grass and watched the leaves blow around in the wind. It would be October 1st tomorrow and me and my Ma were gonna celebrate by inviting Bucky and his family over, we would have a picnic and play Halloween games. It was a tradition to paint old tins and play bean bag toss with them, Rebecca made a hilarious attempt at painting Dobby last year. We didn't do it two years ago or the year before because we were on a train accident... Bucky fell out of the train when the side burst open and I thought I'd lost him. They sent a search party out that spent a week looking for him before giving up. He showed up begging for help a year later at a gas station in Russia, his arm was missing and he was covered in scars and bruises. Later on the police found out he had been human trafficked all the way to Russia where they started to torture him. I was devastated when my Ma told me with tears running down her face, she had gotten a phone call from Bucky's mom telling her the police had found him. It was terrifying to think Bucky slipped through our fingers so easily and had been traumatised so badly. He was a lot different when I finally saw him again, I could see the dead and defeated look on him. He's getting better, it's been three years and he's recovering slowly. That's why I was thrilled to hear that Bucky was joining dance, it was great he was persuing things he wanted to do.

I stood up and decided to have a walk around before I went home to help Ma make diner. I tucked my sketchbook back in my bag and took a deep breath of the fresh, slowly getting cool air. I started walking around and watched couples spend time together as kids ran around shouting and laughing. Up ahead I saw a crumpled shape behind a bush that was shaking, I frowned and sped up. I cautiously approached the thing and saw it was a little girl, she was bent over with her arms wrapped around her legs as she shook. The poor thing had tear tracks running down her face as she shivered in her blue shorts and Moana shirt. There were leaves tangled in her short carrot red hair, she had dirt on her hands, elbows and knees as well as a bit on her cheek. She looked up at me in fright and I saw she had pale brown eyes.

"Hey... are you okay?" I asked.  
She shook her head and sobbed as she buried her face in her knees.  
"Where's your parents?"  
"I-I don't k-know. I lost t-t-them and I'm scared."  
My heart broke for this poor child and I gave her the kindest smile I could.  
"I'll help you look for them."  
Her eyes bore into mine and I felt slightly self conscious.  
"No. I'm not allowed to go anywhere with strangers." She declared sniffling.  
Well, her parents trained her well for stranger danger at least.  
"I'm not taking you anywhere, I just want to help you look in the park for them. Or I could ask a park ranger to help look for them."  
She looked at me for awhile and slowly nodded. I smiled and reached out a hand to help her up.  
"My names Steve, what's your name?"  
"My name is Aoife. It's pronounced like ee-fa."  
"Wow, I've never heard of that name before!" I smiled as we walked along the path, I kept my eye out for any adults desperately searching around or anyone with red hair.  
"It's Irish. That's where my parents are from, but I was born here."  
I nodded along, for someone that was so reluctant to let me help her she seems to trust me now.  
"Can you tell me what your parents names are and what they look like Aoife?" I asked,  
"My mam's name is Sinead, pronounced like shin-ade. Mam has red hair like me and Dad's name is Cormac and he has brown hair and is taller than Mam."  
Well it's not much to go on but I'll see what I can do, maybe if we go up the hill a bit I'll see more people. I started walking and made sure Aoife was following, I scanned the distance and just at the edge of the park I saw a man and a women talking to a park ranger. The woman had red hair and the man had brown. I turned to Aoife with a smile,  
"I think I see your parents!"  
She smiled up at me and jumped up and down.  
"Come on, let's go!" She yelled running down the hill,  
I followed after her and we ran across the grass and past trees and flower gardens, we neared closer and Aoife shouted for her parents.  
"Mam! Dad!" She shouted running towards them as her red hair whipped behind her.  
Aoife's parents turned around at her shout and their faces broke into relief. They ran towards her and her mom scooped her up hugging and kissing her as she cried. They all hugged as her parents cupped her face and kissed her as she cried and her Dad whispered loving things to her. Then they turned to me and their faces immediately hardened like a Mama bear protecting her cub.  
"Mam, this is Steve! He helped me find you, he's really nice!" Aoife chirped wriggling out of her Dad's arms and over to me. She grabbed my hand and I looked down at her surprised.  
I felt her mom put her hand on my shoulder and I looked back at her, she pulled me into a hug.  
"Thank you so much for helping our réalta bheag, gheal. We are very grateful to you!" Sinead breathed in a Irish accent as she pulled away from the hug and lovingly tucked a piece of her daughter's hair behind her ear.

I smiled at the happy family and took my phone out, I saw three missed texts from Ma.  
"I'm happy to help. I saw her when I was walking along the path and I couldn't jut leave her there."  
I smiled,  
"If there's anything we can do please tell us." Her Dad said in a thick accent.  
"Well... me and my best friends family are having a picnic here at the park tomorrow to celebrate October and fall. It would be wonderful if you would come."  
"Of course, that sound fun! We'll see you here tomorrow at?"  
"12."  
"Great, we'll see you there."


	16. Of course we're skipping school

Nat's POV

I groaned as me and Clint were in the car and I was driving us to school, today was the first of October and I really didn't feel like doing work today.  
"Crazy idea, can we just skip school today?" Clint muttered as he rested his head on the window of his door,  
"Yes, we're doing this. Call Tony and tell him to pass the news onto Bruce and Sam. Oh, also tell Tony to invite Wanda."   
"Okay." He said pulling out his battered phone that he'd had for years,  
It was a wonder that thing still worked, it was being held together with purple tape and we'd all done cool designs on the tape one lunch when we were bored. Clint called Tony and told him to tell the others, no one knew Wanda's phone number though. Clint rolled his eyes and grimaced, he started calling someone else and I almost snorted when I heard who it was. He had called the kid he was partners with for the baby project, who happened to be Wanda's twin brother. Why Clint even had his number was a mystery, one I intend to figure out... cause there's definitely something going on between those two.

"Hello?" He asked in a super thick Russian accent,  
"Can I have your sisters phone number?" Clint said getting right to the point,  
"I'm not just about to hand my sister's phone number to just anyone." I can practically hear him smirking on the other line.  
Clint narrowed his eyes, I'd never seen anyone be able to get to Clint so much.  
"What do you want me to do?" Clint said deadly calm already at the end of his patience,  
"Hmmmm... I get to ask you to do any favour for me for a week."  
I wondered if he knew I was beside Clint and listening to their conversation. Probably not.   
"Fine, just tell me Wanda's phone number!" Clint growled.  
He told Clint and then they hung up.  
"Ok, let's do This. Where to Tasha?" He asked sharply, still seemingly pissed off.  
"Peggy's diner."

It was a favorite for us, Peggy, the old lady that owned the diner was very sweet but also strong willed. She likes to tell us all about her time in the war and how she served her country. She sounded like a pretty cool badass woman. Clint quickly called Wanda and told her what was happening. It took quite a lot of convincing and telling her she'd be fine and that it was just for today, she wouldn't fall behind work. Eventually she agreed and then he texted where we were going to Tony. I turned the car around and headed into town, Peggy's diner was right beside the park and it was nice to get a window seat and look at the view. We arrived and started waiting outside for the others, Clint went inside to talk to Peggy for a bit and get us a table. I looked in the park and saw three family's, they were playing a game where one of them was blindfolded. There was a little red headed girl and an older brown haired girl. I saw a blonde haired teen and a long haired brown teen. I squinted at the boy with long hair and my eyes widened when I saw the glint of metal at his hand. It was James, the boy I saw at lunch and the boy I was currently teaching ballet to. He had been quiet while I taught everyone the five basic positions in ballet. A boy had been talking to him and he would reply every so often. I could see the pain in his eyes when I went around the room fixing their poses. I could feel the trauma radiating out of him as I fixed his position, I knew all about trauma. I watched them play around, I checked the time and saw it was already nearing 10. I watched how James looked almost carefree when he was running away from the blonde haired boy, I watched him skillfully dodge and twist his body to get away from the guys reaching arms. He was wearing a black hoodie and jeans, he had combat boots and had tied his back in a bun at his neck. I watched his actions as he moved across the grass, he looked really pretty when the sunlight shined on his smiling face.

"Nat! I know you're busy stalking people but come on already! Let's go In!" Tony whined,  
I internally jumped and cursed myself for getting so distracted, I courtly turned and walked in without a word. I saw Wanda was inside talking to Peggy and Bruce was sitting at a table with Clint. Sam and Tony walked in after me, Bruce looked really nervous to be skipping.  
"What if a teacher sees us? Or if someone sees us and calls the school saying we're skipping!" Bruce stressed,  
"Calm down dude, people don't call schools because a couple of teens are hanging out at a diner." Clint waved off, seemingly in a better mood after his talk with Peggy.

Peggy had that effect on people. We all sat down and ordered our usual. I got a large fries to share with Clint who always huffed and looked guilty when I did. I'd have to talk to him about that, that's it's fine. He's my best friend and I don't mind making sure he doesn't starve. Tony got a bacon cheeseburger and a coke, Sam got a milkshake, Bruce got a veggie burger and Wanda chose to get a milkshake and small size chips. We all talked about Halloween and our costumes we were gonna wear. We ALWAYS went trick or treating, it was unthinkable to even suggest we don't go. We loved running around taking peoples candy that they offered us and then crashing at Tony's house where we traded candy and watched a horror movie. We usually ended up havimg a sleepover and telling spooky stories throughout the night until we dropped from exgaustion. I was going to go as a day of the dead skeleton, I would paint a skeleton face on and wear a flower crown and colorful clothes. Bruce decided he was going as a mad scientist and would make his hair stand up like a weirdo and get glasses with huge fake eyeballs on them. Our food came and we digged in, I heard the bell chime and glanced to see who came in. It was James and his friend. They walked in and looked around, they saw our group and I watched in amusement as recognition dawned on James' face when he saw me. I heard Tony start to choke on his burger when they walked in. I turned to look at him and I saw his face was red and he was looking at the blonde dude. Well... isn't that interesting? The blonde dude smiled at us and walked over, I saw panic flit across James' face when the blonde guy pulled him along.

"Hi Tony, it's nice to meet you all." He grinned,  
"Hi!" Tony croaked before coughing in embarrassment,  
"I'm Steve, this is Bucky."   
I raised my eyebrow at Steve and he looked confused. Bucky mumbled something to him and he nodded smiling.  
"His nickname is Bucky. So you're Buck's dance teacher?"  
Poor James looked like he was about to melt on the spot, I decided to humour him.  
"Yes, do you want to join us?" I asked innocently,  
Tony kicked me from under the table and I kicked him back twice as hard and twice as stealthily.   
"Sure." Steve smiled,  
We scooched over and made room for the two, they sat down and we started talking again. I let them have some of my chips since there was plenty. We continued on the topic of Halloween and the other two joined in.  
"We're trick or treating too with our friends. I'm going as a WW2 soldier, hey what if we all went together?" Steve asked,  
"Great idea!" Sam said before me or Tony could say anything,  
"I don't know all of your names though."  
"That's Bruce, Clint, Sam and Wanda." I said waving in each of their directions.  
We kept talking about costume ideas and snacking, all-in-all we had a fun time.


	17. A fun day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Wednesday!

Bruce's POV

"Hey I've got an idea, why don't you guys come and celebrate the first of October with me and Bucky's family? Just warning you, you'll get a scolding from my Ma because you're skipping."  
I watched Tony turn red as Nat smirked, poor Bucky had crouched in his seat with his hood over his head and his long hair hiding his face. I felt a bit like copying Bucky. I wasn't the best in social situations, it was harder to keep a lid on my anger...  
"Sure, we can't disappoint Steve and Bucky's mom's." Clint said quickly before shooting Nat a smug look.  
"Great, come on guys!" Steve chirped standing up.  
We payed for our food and went out but not before saying goodbye to Peggy. The two boys led us to the park where their mom's and a few other people were.  
"Ma, these are some people from my school, I invited them to join in with us."  
Steve's mom smiled at us all, she had blonde hair like Steve tied in a low bun with a pretty pink sun dress on. Even I could see her tired movements and worry wrinkles though.  
"Hi! It's wonderful for you to join us, I don't support skipping school but this is an exception for all of us."  
"Thank you for having us." Sam smiled,  
"Please call me Sarah! This here is Winnie, Bucky's mom, and that's Rebecca his sister. These are our new friends Cormac, Sinead and their daughter Aoife."  
I saw Rebecca run over with a huge grin on her face as she jumped onto Bucky's back.  
"Onwards Buckaroo!" She laughed,  
Bucky grumbled something in another language that I recognized as Russian, I saw Nat look at him in mild surprise. Then Bucky ran off chasing the small red haired girl called Aoife.  
"Hello ma'am, Thats Sam, Clint, Bruce, Tony, Wanda and I'm Natasha. I'm actually Bucky's dance teacher."  
We all whipped our heads towards Nat and then at Bucky, no wonder he had been so embarrassed to eat with us. Clint was grinning like the Cheshire cat and obviously knew something we didn't since those two were joined at the hip. Even Steve looked surprised at this information.

"Oh, do call me Winnie! Your Bucky's dance teacher, my goodness what a small world!" Winnie laughed good naturedely.  
Everything turned into relaxed conversation as Nat talked to Winnie, Wanda and Sam talked to Sarah and me, Clint and Tony started playing with the others. Then we all migrated over to play. They were playing some sort of strange version of capture the flag, after they explained to us how to play we were put in two teams. My team was Sinead, Steve, Clint, Aoife, and Wanda. The other team was Rebecca, Tony, Nat, Bucky, and Sam.  
"Won't the game not be fair since we have more people?" I asked,  
"Don't worry, Bucky's really good at this game and they'll probably win even though they have less people."  
"Yeah, but we're also playing and some of us are really good at sports or games like this." Clint grinned,  
"Like you?" Steve asked,  
"Yep, I never miss. Though they have Tasha so it'll be pretty even."  
I couldn't help but laugh at that, the funny thing was it was actually true. Clint and Nat were in a water fight once that lasted for exactly 4 hours, 26 minutes and 18 seconds, it would have continued if I hadn't stepped in and put an end to it. We all got in a circle and talked about strategies and at the end Steve gave us a pretty good pep talk. He seemed like a natural leader. We got in positions, me and Clint were guarding our "princess waiting in her tower" as put by Aoife. Wanda would stay on our side and chase anyone out or tag them. The rest were in charge of trying to get the other teams princess, we were literally using two Barbie princesses that were really starting to creep me out. There were all these other rules like having to wear "the princess crown of shame" for the rest of the game if they were tagged. The game started and Winnie, Sarah, and Cormac started cheering us on enthusiastically. Bucky and Nat shot forward into our half as soon as the others went into their side. My eyes widened as Nat distracted Wanda and Bucky easily bent in a odd angle to escape Wanda's attempt at tagging him.

"I got him, you guard the Barbie." Clint said running forward,  
Clint and Bucky were caught in an intense round of chasing, ducking and diving. Both of them were crazy good, I saw Nat leap away from Wanda and start running extremely fast towards me. My eyes widened as I readied to run and defend our princess. I heard a shout and saw Sam on the ground as Rebecca happily strapped the princess hat of shame on him. I snapped my focus back to Nat who swerved and was reaching towards our Barbie, I reached out to block and tag her but she avoided me and changed tactics. I was already starting to feel a stitch forming from the ducking and running I was doing. I am seriously not fit. Nat tried again but stopped halfway and turned and ran towards Bucky and Clint, she shouted something in Russian and Bucky nodded. "Hey! That's cheating!" Clint protested, They swapped positions and Bucky ran towards me, suddenly there was loud shouting and cheers from the other team. We both turned and looked for a second, Steve had the Barbie and was running back to our team. I cheered him on bit had to keep dashing around. Bucky was driving himself even more to get our Barbie. I heard the cheers die down and saw Rebecca had tagged Steve, that girl was fast. Her and her brother were. We continued chasing, defending and laughing as the game continued, half an hour later the other team finally won. We all collapsed on the grass as sweat rolled off our foreheads and we gasped for breath. I had to admit, I had fun. I usually didn't enjoy sports but this had been fun, especially with Aoife shouting random things to try and distract the other team. We all got up after we'd cooled down and saw they had a picnic ready. There was sandwiches, crackers and cheese, fruit, chips and cookies. We all jogged over as our mouths watered from the delicious aroma. We settled down on the picnic blanket and digged in, Sarah entertained us with funny stories of Steve and Bucky while we ate. I have to say, Bucky had been a genius for getting into trouble. Bucky seemed slightly embarrassed at some of the stories they told about him but laughed along with everyone else none the less. We all had fun and shared odd stories about ourselves as well, today had been fun and it made me want to get to know Steve and Bucky more. We were in the same class after all.


	18. Match makers

Wanda's POV

"Where were you Wanda?"  
I sighed and gave Pietro an irritated look, ever since he realized I'd skipped school three days ago he'd been pestering me to find out where I'd gone. I understood he just wanted to keep me safe but seriously, I'm not his little sister that he has to babysit. I'm his twin and besides, I'm probably more mature than him.   
"Please just tell me you at least weren't doing anything dangerous or illegal."  
I completely lost it, I'd delt with his questions and pestering for two long. Anger bubbled up and overflowed until I couldn't hold it back anymore.  
"Pietro what the hell is it with you and judging my friends? I'm capable of my own decisions and do you really think I'm stupid enough to make friends that would pressure me into doing something illegal? They would never do that! So please stop judging them when you don't even know what they're like and just mind your own business!" I shouted before throwing the book I had been reading on the bed and storming out,  
"Wait I di-" he started,  
"No! Okay, I need to be by myself so just leave me alone!"  
I ran down the stairs and out the door, I pulled my socks off as I ran and dropped them on the ground. Angry tears started to flow down my face, why did he have to be so, so... ugh! Even though I felt angry towards Pietro I had to remember It's not him, his friends are influencing him. He wasn't like this before he made friends with them. I finally slowed down and came to a stop, I bent over and stood in the recovery position with my head tucked down. My cries became desperate, hectic sobs that shook my whole body.  
"Wanda!" I heard Pietro shout,  
I heard him run up to me and than wrap me in his arms, I crumpled into him as I did that shaky breathing thing you do after crying.  
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you дорогая сестра." He whispered,  
"I k-know... I'm sorry for getting angry."  
"You don't have to be sorry, it was my fault. I shouldn't have pushed you."  
I shook my head. "You're right, I should have told you where I was going. If you vanished for the day with your friends I would be tearing my hair out. I'm sorry драгоценный брат. I was at a small gathering with my friends, Steve, Bucky and their families and friends. We had a picnic and played games."

Pietro looked down in guilt, a hugged him to say it was okay. We could never stay angry at each other for long, we loved each other too much.   
"Come on, I'll give you a piggyback ride back, since you don't have shoes."  
I smiled and stood up, I jumped on Piet's back and he started running back, not too fast. We got back and he let me down, I thought about something and smiled.  
"Piet, why don't you hang out with me and my friends? Then you won't have to be with your- ugh I mean then you can spend time with me!" I said quickly,  
Pietro smiled. "I'd love to but I don't think one of your friends would want me to."  
"What, who?" I asked,  
"Clint. We don't like each other, and we're partners for the baby project so it'd just be awkward."  
"What? I thought you two were flirting with each other? Wait your not... Oh! Whoops!" I gasped suddenly realizing,  
Pietro tripped over a stray boot on the floor and stumbled around as he blushed, hmmm interesting I thought.  
"No way! We're not... not... you know! Why would you... were not... I'm gonna go for a run!" Pietro babbled in a frenzy as he grabbed sneakers and ran outside.  
I started to smile as I watched him hop around as he pulled his shoes on before sprinting off, to be honest I actually did think that was just how they flirted. If I hadn't of just seen how Pietro reacted I would have thought they hated each other but Pietro obviously likes him. He just doesn't know yet. I'm gonna have to talk to Nat about this, she'll know if Clint likes anyone. I pulled out my phone and started to call Nat.

"Wanda?" I heard her ask,  
"Hi Nat, I need to ask a favour. Is Clint with you right now?"  
"Yeah, don't worry though, he's asleep. He's not faking either, I can tell when he is. So go ahead, what is it?"  
"So... does Clint like anyone?" I asked casually,  
"I didn't peg you to like someone like Clint." Nat said amused,  
"I'm not the one who likes him, my brother does."  
I heard a thump and muffled curses.  
"Ugh, Nat, you okay?"  
"Yep, just tripped over Clints goddamn bag. So wait, Pietro's gay for CLINT of all people? The person who he decided to annoy the hell out of? How interesting."  
I couldn't help but laugh at Nat, it was slightly scary how much she knew about people and how much she was like a spy.  
"Mhm, so I was thinking of letting him hang out with us sometime. We could see if anything happens between them then."  
"Oh, great idea. Just warning you, I'll destroy your brother if he hurts Clint. No offense to you."  
"Umm... none taken? Unfortunately I will have to destroy you if you destroy my brother so let's keep the destroying to a minimum. But anyway, do you think Clint likes him?"  
"Not sure, I'll figure it out though. Oh shit, Clint's waking up, gotta go."  
"Okay, cya!"   
I pressed end and smirked, This was gonna be fun.


	19. Please Father

Loki's POV

It was late at night on Monday when I got the text, Peter was asking to hangout. That wasn't too unusual but to want to do it at 10:24 on a school night? That's unlike Peter. I frowned as I was sitting on my bed, my room was painted vibrant green and was spacious because my family was rich. My bed was a Queen and I had two whole walls filled with books from my bookshelves. I hopped off my bed and walked down our long twisted staircase, our father had a taste for extravagant things, including our house that looked a bit like a tiny castle. I heard talking coming from the living room but stopped as I peered in, I saw Father sitting with Thor and Hela.

"My children, you both please me very much! Well done on joining the sports team Thor, I knew you would be great! Hela, I know we've had our disagreements but I'm proud of both of you."  
"What about Loki?" Thor asked uncertainty,  
"Best not ruin our moods thinking about your brother. Don't get me wrong, I still love him but he's not everything I hoped he'd be. A bit of a disappointment, always getting in trouble and backtalking."  
"You literally just described me." Hela said with a raised eyebrow,  
"Yes, but you're actually my daughter."

Before he could say anything else I ran into the living room with furious tears running down my face. I couldn't believe what my Father was saying, I felt hurt in a way I'd never before.  
"Why don't I please you Father!? Why am I a disappointment!? WHAT DID YOU MEAN HELA'S ACTUALLY YOUR DAUGHTER!?" I shouted,

Everyone on the couch was frozen, even Hela didn't look smug for once. I wiped the tears off my cheeks before turning around and trying to run upstairs.  
"Loki, come back here! You don't get to speak to me like That!"  
I froze, even now Fathers icy voice could make me cower like a five year old that was scared of the dark. I turned around and sobbed, I couldn't stop the tears. Thor looked distraught and looked like he was forcing himself not to get up and run to me. So what, he doesn't want to be around me either? Hela was looking at her hands that were tightly clasped in her lap, she looked uncomfortable.  
"Come here now!" Father ground out,  
I forced myself to walk forward, hating myself Every step of the way. Father stood up and towered over me. I was 14 but a small 14 year old so everyone in my family was taller than me, especially Father.  
"This is exactly what I was talking about! Spying on us and rudely interrupting our conversation."  
"YOU WERE... HOW COULD YOU- THIS ISNT FAIR!" I shouted,  
Fathers face darkened and he grabbed my arm in a deathgrip. Now I'd done a lot of reckless, crazy and dangerous things before but this was the only time I had felt this amount of fear. He dragged my towards the stairs and I started screaming and desperately trying to get out of his hands.  
"What on earth is going on!?" I heard Mother yell as she ran in,  
"Loki is being a brat! He needs to be punished!" Father snarled,  
"No he wasn't! He didn't do anything wrong! We were talking about him behind his back and he heard us. We weren't saying nice things about him and Loki got angry! Please Father let him go!"  
I looked at Thor who had stood up against Father, I felt so scared and shellshocked.  
"Odin, let him go!" Mother said calmly but deadly,  
"Stand back, mind your own damn business Frigga!"  
Father yanked me and I cried out in pain, he dragged me past Mother who looked like she'd been slapped.  
"Hello? Yes... please send child services! My Father is hurting my little brother, we need help! We live on Asgard lane at house 2045."  
Father whipped around and I saw Hela with her phone to her ear, she looked scared.  
"ARE YOU STUPID YOU CHILD!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Father screamed,  
He looked furious, veins were throbbing in his neck and his face was red. He then looked at me and his gaze turned to pure hatred. I saw his raise his arm and I shouted as I struggled to get away from him.  
"Odin please stop!" Mother shouted,

I felt his hand collide with my face as my head was snapped to the side painfully. I felt blood bubbling out of my nose and cried. Suddenly we heard police sirens and shouts. Someone was banging at the door and shouting, Hela ran to the door and opened it. Police swarmed in our house and people that were from child services. They raised their guns at Father and told him to put his hands up, Father reluctantly let go of me and put his hands up. I stumbled away from him and into Thor's arms. I clutched onto him and cried as I felt Hela rub my arm awkwardly, obviously trying to help.

"Excuse me, can I have a look at your brother?" I heard a woman ask Thor,  
I felt Thor tighten his hold on me and I buried my tear and blood covered face into his shirt.  
"We just need to check him over for an injury in the ambulance, okay?"  
"Okay... but I want to be with him the whole time."  
We walked over to an ambulance where people were waiting, they wasted no time checking me over. They found out I was okay and just had a swollen lip and bloody nose. I saw the police shove Father in their police car outside while child services were talking to Mother.  
"I'm so sorry Loki! I should have stood up for You!" Thor cried out as he hugged me,  
"You already did stand up for me, thank You." I sighed as I leaned into him,  
I was beyond exhausted and just wanted to wake up and find out it was a nightmare. I closed my eyes as Thor wrapped his arms around me. Only then did I remember the reason I came downstairs, why did Peter want to hang out with me anyway? I pushed my thoughts to the side, I was too shocked to think about that right now. I couldn't believe Father hit me. I knew he didn't like me very much at times but I thought he'd never do anything like that. I drifted into an uneasy sleep that was muddled with thoughts and memories.


	20. Hey, don't worry

Tony's POV

I heard screaming. Shouts and screaming. Coming from a house two houses away from us, I was pretty sure it was Thor, Steve's friends house. My window was open as I leaned out to try and see through the windows of the house, my hand was already pulling up 911, ready to call. I heard my door open and I turned seeing Morgan run in. She was in her PJs and her hair was a mess, her eyes were cloudy from sleep but covered in fear.

"Tony, what's happening!?" She whimpered as she ran to me,  
I closed the window to muffle the sounds coming in and hugged her close to me.  
"Morgan, it's gonna be okay. If I see someone walking towards our house I need you to do exactly what I say."  
My heart was pounding and adrenaline was pouring through my veins, I didn't know what was happening to them. For all we know there could be a murderer in there that could come to our house. I grabbed Morgan's hand and we ran out of my room, we ran down the stairs and burst into our parents room.  
"It's alright kids, your mom called the police." Dad said walking over,  
Mom was sitting up in bed tense as she pulled on a dressing gown and slippers, Dad wasn't any better. Morgan ran to Mom and Mom wrapped her in a hug whispering reassurances.  
"Dad, what are we gonna do now?" I asked,  
"Stay here, it's the safest place to be right now. Security is on alert and the police are already on their way. I know you two got quite a scare but it's okay."

Dad motioned to come over and I hurried over, he wrapped an arm around me and we climbed in bed with Morgan and Mom. My Dad wasn't always a jerk or insensitive, I think he really does care about us. He just has a hard time showing it.  
We heard police sirens coming and an ambulance. I held Morgan's hand as she stared at me with wide eyes, she'd never experienced something like this before. I had, when I was 4 a organization kidnapped me when I was on my way to school, they killed the driver and stole me. They held me at a ransom of 80 thousand dollars, Dad payed every bit of it to get me back. We heard lots of different commotion like doors shutting and engines starting before we heard everything drive away somewhere. I let go of a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"I think it's time for us all to get a bit of sleep." Mom whispered,  
"Mom, I don't wanna sleep by myself tonight!" Morgan exclaimed,  
"Come on Morgan, you're a big girl. You can sleep by yourself." Dad scoffed,  
"Howard... It's been a scary night and she's only seven. Let her sleep with us tonight." Mom scolded,  
Dad sighed. "Alright."  
I felt torn about getting up and going back to my room or staying here, I knew I'd be up all night in my room. Too scared at every little noise and shadow. But if I stayed here Dad would definitely tell me I was too old to sleep with them.  
"Tony, stay with us tonight please. I need to be with my whole family right now." Mom asked as she ran a hand through my hair.  
I felt relieved and climbed under the blanket, I felt everyone shift around. Me and Morgan were on the inside with our parents on the outside, a protective wall.  
"I think we should all stay home from school tomorrow to spend time together as a family." Mom said,  
"I can't, I have a business meeting tomorrow that I can't miss. But you three should."  
I heard Mom sigh and then everything went quiet for a while.  
"Tones, we'll always be together right? You'll never leave me?" I heard Morgan ask quietly,  
"Yeah. I'll never leave you."  
It's something I couldn't promise but hoped would stay true. I didn't know what I'd do if I lost Morgan.


	21. FOOD FIGHT!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this came really late today guys! My day was really busy and I only had time to write this chapter. I promise the next chapter will be out later tonight or by tomorrow! Please comment if you want to see any other ships or anything you'd like to see happen in the story!

Sam's POV

We were sitting at the table at lunch, things felt weird since Tony wasn't here today. He also wasn't replying to any of our texts, apparently Thor wasn't here either. Weird.

"Hey guys, I'm boooooooooored!" Whined Clint,  
"Me tooooooooooo!" Nat mimicked fakely,  
Clint stuck his tongue out at Nat as Bruce just rolled his eyes.  
"Sometimes I feel like the Mother of our group..." Bruce muttered,  
"Yo guys, do you think we should check on Tony after school?" I asked uncertainly,  
"Nah, if Tony's not at school then he doesn't want to be around anyone right now. If he's not here tomorrow and still hasn't replied then yes, we should probably check he's still alive."  
I laughed, truth be told I was pretty bored too. I looked at my lunch and smirked, I picked up a few peas and launched them at Clint.  
"Oh Sammy... do you really wanna get yourself into this? Do that one more time and there's no going back..." Clint smirked,  
I just smirked back and threw more peas at him, oh I knew what I was getting into. It was gonna be epic, the only part that was gonna suck was going to Mr. Fury's office afterwards.  
"Alright, it's on!" Clint hissed,

He grabbed a handful of Reeses pieces he'd been eating and flung them at me at full force. Then he ducked as I threw a handful of peas, they all went on the floor and rolled around. This had caught the attention of a few students, they were beginning to grin and I even saw a few bets taking place. Then Clint amped it up a bit, he grabbed the pie slice Nat gave him and smashed it on my head. I screeched from the cold, slimy texture and I heard laughter erupt everywhere.

"Yeah, great, go ahead and throw around the food I got you..." Nat mumbled,  
But then she grabbed a handful of her pie slice and grabbed the hood of Clint's hoodie with her other hand. Clint's eyes widened as she shoved the pie down his shirt. He shouted out and started wiggling around ridiculously to try and get the pie out, Nat just grinned and started filming him.  
"Traitor!" Clint gasped, "you're gonna get it now!"  
I watched the two best friends go in an all-out food fight and then decided to get Bruce involved. I grabbed a handful of my mashed potatoes and threw them at Bruce, he squealed as they hit him and I doubled over from laughter. When I regained my breath I looked at Bruce but was met with a face-full of lasagna. I heard Bruce laugh and cracked a smile, it was nice to see him loosen up a bit. I wiped off as much as I could and saw Steve running over excitedly with a not-so-enthusiastic Bucky.

"But Steve..."  
"Come on, it'll be fun!"  
I leaned over to Bruce and whispered in his ear, "Steve's more of a Mother than you!"  
We both burst out laughing and started food fighting again. Steve and Bucky joined in and I saw Nat start throwing things at Bucky who was trying to use Steve as a human shield. I noticed teachers start to run up to us and I groaned, looks like the fun was over already.

"Everybody stop at once!" Shouted our annoying Tech-Ed teacher, Mr. Hammer,  
"Step away from the mess you've made and get inline, now! The rest of you get to class, lunch is over early." Ms. Hill, our vice principal, shouted.  
We all obediently stepped away, we knew not to mess with Ms. Hill, she meant business. She snapped her fingers in front of her and started walking to Mr. Fury's office, we followed behind her somewhat reluctantly. We walked into Mr. Fury's office and his one eye scanned us silently. He leaned back in his chair.

"I was gonna offer for you to sit down but I guess that's out of the question. Let's get this straight, you guys got into a food fight in MY school? A food fight, really? Out of all the things you could do, you chose a childish, immature and irresponsible thing to do. You know what, I don't even have anything more to say to you lot. I'm gonna call all your parents and explain exactly what happened and your exact punishment. There's quite a lot of you so this might take awhile."  
"Mr. Fury please, we didn't mean to make such a mess! We'll clean it up immediately and we'll take detention for as long as you like! Just please don't call our parents!" Clint pleaded as a hint of desperation showed through,  
"What's so bad about telling our parents? Sure they'll be mad, we might get a scolding, grounding or something like that but what's the worst they'll do?" I asked,  
"Look, I'll do anything. Just don't call my Dad." Clint said completely ignoring me,  
"Look kids, I gotta lot of grumpy parents I gotta deal with. Go start cleaning the caffeteria. I'm sure your parents will choose what to do with you next." Fury sighed,  
"Please Mr. Fury, you don't have to call hi-" Nat started,  
"Enough, I've already got a headache and the worst is yet to come. Go before I call your parents and tell them to come to the school so I can directly tell them what happened."  
"Come on guys, let's just go start cleaning." Steve said nervously as he started to walk out.

We all followed silently, tension so thick we could've cut it with one word. We all followed Ms.  
Hill as she brought us to the janitors closet to get supplies to clean. I sighed, this wasn't my ideal idea. The food fight was definitely worth it though. I just wonder why Clint's so freaked out about his Dad finding out?


	22. Dad's not happy...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this chapter is heartbreaking and has lots of violence in it, please skip to the end if that triggers you.

Clint's POV

We just finished cleaning the food off the floor and our table, we all looked pretty ridiculous with dried food on us. Bucky was relatively clean because he made Steve take most of the hits for him, he still had food on him though. I waited anxiously, they'd already called our parents and they were coming to pick us up. A cold sweat had started and I had to force myself to look normal and not nervous. Barney was probably gonna pick me up, then I'd have to face Dad's fury at home. We heard footsteps and saw Ms. Hill leading all our parents and siblings in, why they didn't just wait in their cars and text us to come out was a mystery to me.

"Steven Grant Rogers! Come on, let's go home." Sarah sighed, still in her work clothes.  
"Sam, I can't believe you started a food fight! We had to help pay for your cleaning supplies!" Sam's Dad said grumpily.  
"Sorry?" Sam said sheepishly,  
Sam and Steve walked out with their parents, the rest were looking at us expectantly.  
"Sorry Ma, can we go home please?" Bucky mumbled,  
Bucky's Mom walked up to him and whispered in his ear, "I'm proud of you Bucky for joining in on the fun. You're not in trouble for making some childhood memories!"  
Bucky smiled and they walked out.  
"Well, at least Bucky didn't get in trouble." Nat said before following her older sister, Yelena, who was giving her an icy death glare.  
"Come on Clint." Barney said walking towards the front doors,  
I reluctantly followed him out to the car, I opened the door to Barney's car and slid in.  
"You asked for it doing something stupid like that, now you gotta face the music. Warning you, Dad's livid. He gave me this when he finished his call."  
Barney pulled up his sleeve and I saw his arm was swollen with jagged, bloody cuts running down.  
I slumped in my seat, I felt scared. Real scared. Dad never hurt Barney that bad, it was always me he hurt. I looked the most like Mom and to him that was a crime punishable by LOTS of beatings.  
"Hey, I've got almost enough to save up for an apartment. It shouldn't be too long before we can leave that hell hole. Try and be brave when we get home, okay? Dad hates weakness and will just hurt you more."

I stayed silent, we were nearing home. Everything in me clenched and a thousand warnings were blaring through my system telling me to run, hide, stay away, danger, escape. I gripped onto the edge of my seat untill my knuckles went white. Now not a lot of things scare me, spiders? Nope. Snakes? Nuh uh. Heights? Pshh as if. But one thing I am absolutely terrified of is my Dad. He knows how to deliver a punch alright. It hurts like a Mother fucker when he uses his left hand to punch me because his wedding ring is still on. He never took it off, even after Mom died. It usually leaves long slices or gashes across my scarred skin. Its funny how something that's supposed to represent love and unity could be so violent and painful.

Barney parked in our driveway, he turned the car off and we sat there. Every inch of me was frozen as I stared at the light coming from behind our dirty living room curtains. Barney patted me on the shoulder, it was his way of showing love and warmth. I forced my slightly shaking fingers to un-buckle my seatbelt and step out the car. I trudged up the steps and opened the door, my heartbeat beating at lightning speed, heavy in my ear. My palms grew sweaty as we slowly walked in. I heard something smash and I flinched violently, I shook as all my mental walls came crumbling down. Thundering steps pounded towards us and then I saw him, his eyes red from alcohol and drugs. Clothes dirty and smelling rotten, his hair a greasy, mangled, mess that stuck up everywhere.

"THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOURE DOING? YOU BLOODY MAKE A MESS AND I HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU? YOURE LUCKY I DONT THROW YOU OUT OF THIS HOUSE YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!" He screamed,  
I felt his fist collide with my jaw as my head snapped painfully to the side.  
"GODDAMN MUT, I SHOULD JUST PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERY! OH BUT YOU DONT DESERVE THAT YOU FUCKING FAG! YOURE GONNA PAY, OH YOURE GONNA PAY ALRIGHT!"  
his fists pounded into me as I felt blood clot and form, I gasped for breath as he punched me in the nose. Blood oozed out and I fell to the floor. He started kicking me as hard as he could, I couldn't hold back my shouts and tears anymore. It was too much. I cried and begged him to stop, he only narrowed his eyes at me and kicked me twice on the ribs in the same spot.  
"WHAT ARE YOU? A FUCKING BABY? GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!"  
I scrambled up and crawled away backwards as fast as I could, my lungs were on fire and every breath I dragged in felt like spikes ripping through my lungs. Blood was dripping off of me and running down the creases of my face, I was sobbing uncontrollably as I felt a bottle smash against my leg. I dragged myself out the door and stumbled onto my feet, I fell to my knees as my foot screamed in agony. I fumbled and tried to get my phone out with my blood soaked fingers. I managed to get it out and sobbed again, it was completely smashed. Unusable. Useless. Just like me. I couldn't contact Nat to ask if I could go to hers, I was completely alone. I heard shouts coming from my house and I stumbled up again, I pushed past the pain and ran. I ran down the road, away from my brother. Away from my Dad. Away from the only place that could shelter me. My body started to go numb as my breath started to get laboured. I stopped and slid down, not caring if I was hit by a car. Then suddenly I heard voices and footsteps. I felt a hand on me gently trying to shake me, I looked up and gasped.

"Clint? Oh my God... what happened to you?" Pietro Maximoff asked.


	23. what the actual Hell?

Pietro's POV

I was just out for a evening jog, nothing unusual. until it was unusual. I had been on my way back when I saw someone stumbling along the road, I ignored them thinking they were just some drunk dude. But there was something unnervingly familiar about the light brown hair and thin frame with second hand clothes hanging off them. Then they just collapsed onto the road, I felt nervous quenches in my stomach as I watched. I couldn't just leave that person there, drunk or not they could get hit by a car. I jogged over and gasped when I finally saw who it was. Clint freaking Barton. Something was very, very wrong with him though. I only noticed what when I took a few steps closer. Blood was spreading across the pavement and I saw smudges and drops everywhere from where he'd been walking. His face was bruised with cuts and gashes crisscrossing across his pale skin. Blood was smeared on his temple and lips with a steady trickle running out of his mouth. His clothes were covered with rips and red areas here and there, he slowly looked up at me with pain evident in his cloudy eyes.

"Clint? Oh my God... what happened to you?" I breathed out in horror,  
Clint whimpered and his eyes slowly began to slide shut, that's when reality set in. Clint might be dying, I had to get him to a hospital. I gently grabbed him under his armpits and pulled him up. Clint screamed and I almost dropped him, this was bad. Really bad. I left my phone at the house, I hadn't thought I'd need it. I'd have to carry Clint to my house and get a drive to the hospital. I struggled to figure out how to carry him before I sighed and just scooped him up bridal style. I started running as fast as I could towards my house, where my adoptive Mom could drive us. We got there faster than I expected because Clint was so light, he barely weighed anything. I ran past our garden and up the steps to our door, I let go of Clint's legs so I was supporting him standing up. I opened the door with one hand and dragged us in.

"WANDA, MIRANDA! HELP, WE NEED TO GET TO THE HOSPITAL!" I shouted in desperation,  
I heard them running towards the hallway and I saw them burst in, Miranda screamed when she saw Clint.  
"CLINT? what happened to him?" Wanda shouted,  
"No time! We have to get him to the hospital!" I pleaded,  
"Wanda, get your shoes on and contact his friends or parents. Pietro, get him in the car." Miranda commanded as she grabbed her purse and pulled boots on.  
I ran outside with Clint and opened the car door, I slid him in and buckled up his seat belt. I closed his door and ran around to the other side of the car, I climbed in the back next to Clint. Miranda got in and started the car as Wanda hopped in, she was on the phone with Tony.  
"I don't freaking know Tony! Pietro just walked in with him, I don't know anything!"  
Wanda sighed and passed the phone to me as we sped towards the hospital.  
"Pietro what the fuck happened to Clint? I swear to God, if you hurt him I will kill you! All of us will!" Tony fumed,  
"Listen Tony, I didn't hurt him. I was out for a jog when I saw him half dead on the road, he's barely conscious and hasn't said a word. We're almost at the hospital, do you know his parents number? Can you let them know?"  
"N-No, I don't know. The only person that might know is Nat, should I call her?"  
"Yes, tell her to meet us at the hospital."  
"Okay... Pietro? Please look after Clint."  
"Okay." I said, voice thick with emotion.

I pressed end and watched as we pulled into the parking lot for emergency. Miranda parked in front of the doors and I jumped out, I pulled Clint out and pulled his arm over my shoulders. Wanda did the same to his other arm, we ran through the doors and up to the receptionist. We heard a little girl scream when we ran in and people jumped in fright.

"Please! We need a doctor!" Wanda shouted,  
The receptionist jumped up and ran to a double set of doors, telling us to follow her. she grabbed a wheelchair which we lowered Clint into, then the woman pushed him quickly down multiple hallways. We ran beside her, everything a blur. She wheeled him into a room where she started explaining what happened to the doctors. Then she walked out the doors, two doctors tried to get us to leave and go to the waiting room. I resisted, I didn't want to leave Clint. Wanda shook her head at me and pulled me outside, outside I burst into tears. Everything just catching up to me. Wanda hugged me and ran gentle circles over my back. I sobbed, what happened to Clint?


	24. Please say he's okay

Nat's POV

I ran down the street, I'd gone to Clint's house as soon as I could but Clint was gone by then. Barney told me what happened with a pinched, worried expression, he was sporting his own injuries. I was searching for Clint now, nearing desperate. Clint was heavily injured and would be loosing blood, I had to find him. I was close to tears, Clint was my best friend, partner, he was like my younger brother. Most people at school think we're together but we're not, we just understand one another and have a special connection. I ran down street after street, but none had any sign of Clint. I gave up and sat down on the side of the road, my breath laboured and my lungs burning. A sob escaped me before I could clamp a hand over my mouth, my shoulders shook as I silently cried. I took gasps of breath and shook and shivered in the cool October air. My hands balled into fists as I tried to calm myself down, I couldn't allow myself to get distracted. Just then my phone started ringing, I whipped it out thinking it might be Clint. I deflated when I saw it was Tony, I pressed accept and raised my phone to my ear.

"Nat, Clint's in the hospital. Pietro found him earlier, I-I don't know what's wrong with him."  
"I do." I snarled before ending the call,  
I started running back home, I'd had to run to find Clint in the first place because my idiot parents took away my driving privileges. I knew they'd let me drive to get to Clint though, they knew not to mess with Me when it came to Clint. I kept running until I made it to my parents house, I don't live with them because of choices they made for me as a kid that I never got over. I ran inside where my Dad was drinking coffee and my Mom was cooking something.  
"I need the car, Clint's in the hospital." I said before grabbing my keys and running out before they could respond.  
I ran into my car and slammed on the gas, jolting out of the driveway. I sped towards the hospital, hoping I didn't run into a police officer. I made it to the hospital in record time, running in I asked where Clint was. 

"Natasha?"  
I turned around and saw Sarah Rogers standing behind me, scrubs on and clipboard in hand.  
"Sarah, do you know where Clint is? Please... I need to see him."  
Sarah gave me a small smile and motioned for me to follow her, we quickly walked past multiple rooms and hallways. Then we turned the corner into a separate waiting room, I saw Wanda, Pietro and another woman sitting in it. I noticed Pietro and Wanda's eyes were red and puffy as if they'd been crying. There was dried blood covered on Pietro's shirt and his hands, Clint's blood. I walked over and saw them jump slightly.

"Where's Clint?" I asked Sarah,  
"He's in surgery right now, I'm afraid you won't be able to see him for quite awhile."  
Surgery? My eyes widened aswell as Wanda and Pietro's. Anger burned through my veins, his fucking Dad really did it this time. That was it, I couldn't keep his secret anymore. I wouldn't keep turning a blind eye to the things that happened in his house, he needed to be safe.  
"What are his injuries?" Pietro asked quietly,  
"He has a concussion, broken ribs, punctured lung, serious internal bleeding, broken foot, and... He lost his hearing."  
"He WHAT?" I shouted,  
"Natasha please calm down, the only thing you can do now is wait."  
I sighed and slumped into a chair, this was gonna be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I know. The last couple chapters have been pretty heavy, but there will be fluff and happiness on the way!


	25. Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, it's gonna snow here tomorrow in good ol' Nova Scotia! I'm hoping we might even get a snow day tomorrow at school. So, y'alls are a quiet bunch. Is there really no suggestions or additional ships you want? Well if anything comes to mind, just let me know!

Peter P's POV

I lay on my bed in a miserable crumble, everything was going wrong. Loki never answered my text for company when I'd been in a rough spot. In fact he hadn't been in school since then. Shuri and Scott felt somewhat distant, because I couldn't tell them what was happening to me. Hunter had started making me turn into a drug dealer, selling VERY illegal drugs to people. The first time he told me what I was going to do I practically almost fainted. My gut had been in a twist and my palms sweating, I'd had to wear a big hoodie and shades while I stood in the most dangerous part of town where the criminal underbelly reigned terror. It had only gotten worse since then, the things he made me sell got bigger and bigger, more illegal and more illegal. I was starting to get desperate for my laborious and dangerous tasks to end, the worst part was that Hunter said he'd be finished with me untill he saw fit. That could be years! 

I didn't think I had it in me to go that long, another thing that was bugging me was that I'd been getting distant from my friends. That had never happened before, ever. And it was terrifying. My friends were my whole world, especially since my parents died when I was little and when uncle Ben died a few years ago. It was just me, aunt May and my friends. Loki, Scott and Shuri weren't my only friends, I had two friends I'd met two summers ago at camp. Ned and MJ. Ned was a star wars fan like me and we had spent countless hours building Lego star wars ships, sets and anything we could get our hands on. He's also a part of the academic Decathlon team and is into spy movies. MJ was quiet and kinda moody sometimes but we still loved her, she loved to read and was an observant introvert that was super into superheroes. Just thinking about them brought a small smile to my face, they were a much appreciated distraction from my currant crisis. But like always my mind wandered to Hunter, the illegal deals I'd been doing and eventually to Wade Wilson. 

The root of my trouble. He was just so perfect, sure he had some scars on his face and hands from what I'd seen but it did nothing to deter me. With his close cropped, yet fluffy brown hair and his sharp, chiseled features. His light peppering of stubble and light brown eyes, he truly was a masterpiece. The scars that peppered him were strange, it didn't look exactly like an accident, and they were all over his face and hands which meant they were probably on other parts of him too. They weren't super obvious and you can't see them from a distance, they weren't even a thick white like normal scar tissue. They just looked like jagged lines crisscrossing over his skin. Besides looks Wade was a class clown, even though I didn't share any classes with him (since he's in grade 11) I'd heard people talk to each other about him. He was friends with the cool kids but chatted to anyone, he basically lived to tell aweful, corny and so-bad-that-they're-kinda-funny jokes. 

So of course, it made sense he wasn't gay. Would never be into someone like me. What was I expecting? Sure he invited me to his rugby tryouts but he invited a bunch of other people to watch too. I had been mentally kicking myself for even thinking he might like me that way. But a part of me whispered sometimes, call it a sixth sense. It told me that Hunter was a untrustworthy, cruel, sneaky and lying weasel that was probably lying about Wade. The more I thought about it the more I became unsure of what to do. Wade didn't seem cruel or mean, if Hunter did tell him I liked him maybe he'd just brush it off in the usual Wade manner, maybe I didn't have to be Hunters slave to run around and do his bidding when he wanted me to. Maybe if I even explained to him my situation before Hunter got a chance to tell him about my crush, Wade would actually be on my side. Then again, these could just be fantasies. I wasn't sure what the right thing to do was anymore, should I confide in Wade? Suck it up and stand up to Hunter, no matter the consequences? Or should I just stick this out until it's over and avoid the whole trouble of Wade finding out I like him? My thoughts ran circles in my head like race cars speeding around the track over and over. It was too much to think about right now, I had to give this some more thought another time. This decision would be important, it could shape my future.


	26. Accidents

Steve's POV

I sighed, Ma was late. She probably had to fill in for someone at the hospital or something like that. But she always called me to let me know. No, she probably had to deal with an emergency patient that came in, that was the most logical explanation. Our house felt unsettlingly void and empty with just me at home, no cooking noises coming from the kitchen, no 40's music playing through the house, no friends to play video games with or talk too. I decided to go to the hospital Ma worked at to volunteer for a bit, it was something I liked to do when I was alone and had free time. There was something satisfying and humbling about helping people in need, whether that was helping clean patients sheets or talking to an elderly citizen in the hospital. The staff knew me well by now, they always welcomed me with a smile. 

I slipped my sneakers on and a light coat because the air was getting colder. I started walking to the hospital with a skip in my step and a smile on my face, I arrived a half-hour later and walked in. Marggie greeted me with a wave as she talked on the phone to someone, I gave her a nod before deciding to go find somewhere that I could be useful. I walked down the winding, pristine white hallways that I knew all to well from my childhood. I turned another corner and saw a teenage boy walking around nervously as he looked around. He seemed lost so I walked up to help him.

"Hi there, can I help yo- Tony?" I asked in surprise when he turned around with a jump.  
He wasn't looking good, his face was pale with dark bags underneath his hazy and fearful looking eyes. His hair was greasy and sticking up in every direction as if he'd been running his hands through it, his clothes seemed wrinkled and he wasn't wearing enough considering how cold it was outside and how the hospital was cool because of its air conditioning.  
"S-steve? Oh thank God, I'm lost! I need to get to the others!" He sighed as he swayed slightly on his feet,  
"Are you okay? Wait, are you checked into the hospital? And if you're not then why are you here?" I asked in confusion,  
"Clint." He mumbled before turning around and continuing his wonky path to nowhere,  
I quickly followed after him in worry,  
"When was the last time you slept, or ate? And what's wrong with Clint, is he here?"  
Tony started counting on his fingers absentmindedly and got up to five before shrugging, now I was really worried.  
"Can't remember, but it doesn't matter. Pieblo... I mean Pietro, found him on the road all busted up bad. He was brought here around half an hour ago. I need to see him." Tony said determinedly even though he was clearly exhausted,

I couldn't help but smile at how cute Tony was when he was tired and rambling. I gently wrapped an arm around him and started walking towards the section Clint might be in, holding onto Tony because I didn't trust him to walk in a straight line by himself. We arrived at a second, inner waiting room for family members who were waiting for their family's to be checked out or whatever they were doing. I saw Natasha pacing up and down the left side of the room as she stopped occasionally to look up and blink really fast. That was the first alarm bell. Natasha was one of the toughest people that went to our school, there was a reason most people were too afraid to talk to her. So seeing her on the brink of tears was extremely alarming. The next alarm was seeing Wanda sitting next to a teenage boy as silent tears dribbled down their faces, a woman beside the boy who looked pale and shaken. Tony stumbled over to them and all but collapsed into the chair on the other side of Wanda, he looked at them pleadingly as I slowly walked over. 

"Is he okay? Where is He? Can bee... I mean, can we see him?"  
""H-he's... not... okay. C-Clint's in surgery!" Wanda cried out,  
I stumbled back in shock, I hadn't realized just how serious it was. Natasha walked over and I saw poisonous, raging anger, burning in her eyes.  
"He lost his hearing... That fucker ruined his hearing! That son of a bitch almost killed him!" She seethed,  
"Who? You know who hurt him?" Piped up the guy next to Wanda,  
He had a Russian accent and I assumed him and Wanda were related.  
"His Dad... That... That... He's an abusive asshole that's been hurting Clint for years! Clint made me promise not to tell anyone so he wouldn't be moved away from us but I can't do it anymore! This has to stop! Clint almost DIED tonight because of his Dad!" Nat yelled as she balled her hands into fists,  
Horror swept through me at Natasha's words, the others having a similar reaction. There were gasps and then Tony buried his face in his hands in despair, I felt the urge to walk over and comfort him. The woman with Wanda and the guy looked terrified and heartbroken as she stared at Natasha. Just then a nurse walked in with a grim look on her face.  
"Are you Clint Barton's friends?" She asked,  
We nodded,  
"He just came out of his surgery but is on a lot of meds right now for pain and to help speed up the healing process. He's also going to be out for a few days at least so if I were you I'd go home."  
"No, let me see him. I don't care if he's asleep and I don't care if you have 'protocols'!" Natasha hissed as she stepped forward,  
The nurse pursed her lips before sighing and nodding,  
"Fine but only one person at a time." With that she walked off with Natasha close behind to see Clint.  
The rest of us stayed there dumbfounded from the bombshell Natasha dropped on us before leaving.


	27. Loki's friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you all probably noticed I took last Wednesday off for Christmas but I'm back now! Hope you enjoy

Thors POV

It had been a long week, nothing felt the same. Father had been put on trial and found guilty, that was some relief. I was still shellshocked, my father, the man I had trusted and loved had turned out to be... something cruel and twisted. Loki was putting on a brave face but I could sense a void in him, it scared me deeply. Hela was ignoring all of us, even Mother. We were still not back at school, I probably should be though. Nothing bad even happened to me so I should be going back, not to mention my grades.

"Thor dear, someone's at the door. Could you please get it? I'm busy with Loki." Mother called out in a gentle voice,  
"Of course Mother." I called back walking out of my room.  
Mother had taken to trying to get Loki to open up about his thoughts and feelings, to help him heal from what happened. I hoped it was working, I didn't know what I'd do if it didn't. I reached the door and opened it with a smile, my smile widened when I saw Loki's friends standing in front of me.  
"Hi Thor, um, we're Loki's friends and we just wanted to check in on him... cause he hasn't been in school and isn't replying to our texts or calls." Scott said nervously,  
"Welcome Scott, Peter and Shuri! It is an honour to meet such wonderful friends of Loki's!" I beamed stepping aside for them,  
"How do you know our names?" Shuri asked casually with a hint of suspicion,  
"Why, Loki tells us about you! He cares about you all very deeply!" I chuckled,  
"Loki... really talks about us? But he's so... ugh, how do I say this nicely? He said you and him aren't exactly super close?" Peter asked,  
"It is true, unfortunately, we aren't the closest. But that doesn't stop him from proudly telling us all the things about his friends that are amazing."  
"Anyway, why hasn't Loki been in school? Is he okay? Did something happen to him? Is he just being moody? Does he ha-" Scott rambled,  
"Loki is fine, do not fret friend Scott. We just had a rather big event happen to us that has shaken us to the core. If you want you can see him."  
"Yes please, can you show us the way?" Shuri asked,  
"Certainly, follow me." I said,

I led them up the stairs and down long elaborate hallways full of relics and beautiful pottery and paintings. I took a right into another hallway where mine and Loki's rooms were located. I knocked on the door lightly before giving the others a smile and slipping in.

"Loki, your friends from school are here. They're outside the door, would you like me to invite them in?" I asked gently,  
I saw Loki's gaze brighten with excitement and he nodded, Mother gave Loki a hug and stood up to leave. She gave me a hug and slipped outside, I heard her greet Loki's friends before telling them they could go in. I gave Loki a small smile before walking out and closing the door behind me, I heard a thump and Loki's friends loudly asking him if he was okay. I smiled, glad Loki had people that looked out for him, it made me wonder why my own friends hadn't come to visit though, or even send me a text asking where I was. It was very unlike them, they were usually very kind and caring. Something must have happened if they hav'nt messaged me. I hoped they were okay. I walked into my room and closed the door, sitting on my bed I pulled up my phone. No new messages. I think I've had enough trouble to deal with for awhile, I'm just gonna rest. Maybe I'll be ready to get back to school tomorrow. Hopefully.


	28. I'm hooked on a feeling!

Peter Q's POV

"Ooga-chucka! ooga-ooga ooga-chuka! Ooga-ooga ooga-chucka!" I sang at the top of my lungs,

My head bobbed as my mixtape was clasped in my hand like a microphone, my old fashioned headphones snug on my head. I was home alone and well taking advantage of it. I'd done nothing but sing and dance for the last hour in nothing but pj pants. Yondu had some work thing, and Gam had to talk to her crazy old Dad about something. Her Dad was seriously strange, his ideas were warped and he tended to lean to a more violent side in my opinion.

"I can't stop this feeling, deep inside of me! Girl, you just don't realize what you do to me!" I belted,

Let's just say I was taking some 'me' time. I was dealing with some very confusing, and frankly terrifying, feelings for a certain long haired blonde. It didn't make sense, I'm a dude, he's a dude, so how can I like him? I'm supposed to like girls, I remember my Dad... before he... you know... well, he told me that being gay, liking men was wrong and disgusting. At school all the guys dated girls and the girls dated guys so it had to be true. All couples were a man and a woman, that I'd seen so far. So why the fuck did I like him like this? It was confusing and muddled my head up so I decided to just not think about it.

"When you hold me, in your arms so tight! You let me know, everything's all right! IIIIIIIIII'm hooked on a feeling! I'm high on believing! That you're in love with meeeee!"

I danced my way into the kitchen and checked in the fridge for anything tasty to snack on. I spotted pancake mix and grinned, though my baking skills were questionable I was confident I could pull this off. Harder said then done. First the flour spilled when I tried pouring it. Then I realized the milk I all ready added was gone off. Then I completely crushed the entire egg when I tried to crack it. Multiple times. Then I had been waiting for ages for the pan to heat up before realizing I'd turned on the wrong stove. Then I'd burned my pancakes. So here I was, sitting at the table grumpily while I ate burnt pancakes. 

The sun was shining and sending pretty patterns all over the room from the hanging crystal thing on the window. It was hard to stay annoyed for long with such a beautiful day. I was honestly so glad it was the weekend, school sucks! Like seriously, it's kinda effed up that people get to tell us what to do, what not to do, tell us how we learn and what things we learn. Thank God for friends, otherwise I would have dropped out years ago, along with half the school most likely. After I finished my pancakes and tidied up a bit I relaxed on the couch to watch a movie. I pulled up Footloose and relaxed into the couch cushions. Letting the movie wash over me, I sighed in contentment. Now this is the life!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, some well earned happiness and goodness! Am I right?


	29. Police get involved

Wanda's POV 

Oh my God... I could barely breath, sitting on the stiff, uncomfortable hospital chair next to Piet. This felt surreal, how could something this bad happen to the first person I could call a friend here. It wasn't fair. We left Sokovia to have a better life, away from the poverty, streetfights and danger. Now we're sitting here, scared to death that... that Clint's not gonna wake up. I gripped onto Pietro's hand, his clothes still stained with Clint's blood. Natasha was looking out the window with a faraway haunted look on her face. Tony was sitting on the edge of his chair as a part of him was constantly fiddling with something, his legs bounced, he twisted his hands together or rocked back and forth. I watched as a male nurse walked up to us with a small tight smile.

"Hi there guys, my name is Nurse Dalaney. I was just in with your friend and he's doing well, but is in a small coma. That said I'm going to have to turn to you guys to tell me what happened." He said.

It was silent for a while, I don't think any of us could tell this as good as Pietro, he was the one who found Clint after all. Pietro seemed to be in shock as he looked down at his shoes with cloudy eyes and shallow breath. I gently nudged him in the shoulder and he looked up slowly.

"I-I'm the one that found him. I was on a run when I saw someone s-stumbling along the road, I saw them suddenly collapse and I walked over because they could be got hit by a car if I left them. Then w-when I got over I saw it was Clint and... He w-was covered in blood and had cuts all over him and it looked like bruises were forming. I quickly got him to my house where me, my sister and Mom drove him to the hospital." Pietro stuttered,  
"Then Wanda called me to ask if I had Clint's parents phone numbers to call them but I didn't so I called Nat, his best friend." Tony added quietly,  
"I know who did this to him. His Dad. He's been abusing Clint since he was five years old and his Mom died. Clint didn't want anyone to know because he didn't want to be separated from his older brother Barney." Nat hissed, still looking out the window.  
I saw the Nurses attention harden and his back straightned. "Thank you for informing me of this. Im afraid im going to have to call the police in to get further information and investigate."

With that the Nurse retreated quickly somewhere and we all held our breath. I saw Steve shuffle over to Tony and collapse into the chair beside him with a troubled look on his face.

"Should we call Bruce and Sam? Aren't they friends with Clint too?" I asked uncertaintly,  
"What? Oh... yeah, here. You can call them." Tony said giving me his phone,

I took it and stood up and walked to the other side of the room, I opened up Tony's contacts and pressed call on Bruce's number. After a few seconds Bruce picked up and I sighed in relief.

"Hello? Tony, do you know what time it is?" Bruce asked sleepily,  
"I'm sorry if I woke you up Bruce, this is Wanda. I need to tell you... Clint's in the hospital. Something bad happened to him and me, Nat, Tony, Steve and my brother are all ready here. Clint's in a coma but I still wanted to tell you... so you could come if you wanted."  
"O-oh... o-of course I'll b-be there! Oh my gosh... I guess I'll see y-you there." Bruce whispered before ending the call.

I then tried calling Sam but he didn't pick up the first time. I bit on my nails and tried calling him a second time, finally at the very end of the dial he picked up.

"Tony, what the fu-" Sam said groggily,  
"Sam this is Wanda, I'm sorry if I woke you up. Clints in the hospital, something horrible happened to him and he's in a coma right now. Bruce is on his way to the hospital and the rest of us is all ready there, also Steve and my brother are. If you want you can come too." I interrupted him,  
"What!? What happened to Clint? What sort of bad thing happened? Is he going to be okay?" Sam yelped,  
"Just come and we'll explain it to you and Bruce. I gotta go Sam, see you soon." I sighed,  
"Yeah, yeah. See you soon."

I walked back over to Tony and was about to give him his phone back but I saw he was all ready almost completely asleep. His head was resting on Steve's shoulder but Steve didn't seem to mind. I just gave Steve Tony's phone and went back over to Pietro, I sat down slowly and could feel the start of my exhaustion kicking in. I couldn't imagine how tired Piet was going to be. I rested my head on his shoulder and felt his head fall on mine, I smiled. This was our comfort position, where we supported each other and could feel safe. My eyes slipped closed and I listened to the sound of shuffling feet, sneaky chairs and the lights hum. I slowly fell asleep.


	30. Fear settles in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter to anyone thats still reading...

Clint's POV 

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Everything hurt. I couldn't think, I couldn't move, I couldn't breath, I couldn't talk. Everything was silent and cold, I could barely feel where I was. For all I knew I could be floating in a river... wouldn't I hear water then? I began to feel my surroundings, I could now tell I was laying on something solid, there was also something over my mouth. Even with my sense of touch returning everything was still silent and eery. I felt a rough blanket on me and something along my arm, there was something wrapped around my head and I could feel my legs and feet were bare.

I tried to open my eyes but the effort left me too weak, a few minutes later I tried again and saw a dark, bleary world beyond. My eyes drifted shut again and then I felt the blanket move. Something took my hand and held on, not something, someone. They were warm and firm, there hand soft yet rough at the same time, my hand automatically tightened in their hold and I felt them brush a few strands of hair off my forehead. I tried to open my eyes again and saw the blurry image of someone beside me. They were pale with bright red hair. Natasha. My lips drew up in a smile as I realized it was her, I was'nt alone in this strange world. If anything happened she'd protect me, I know she would, just like I'd protect her.

Why wasn't she saying anything though? I couldn't hear anything, not her or mines breathing, not the rustle of clothes or bedsheets, nothing. Something was wrong. My senses started to sharpen from my rush of adrenaline and fear, my heart picking up pace. Something was very wrong, where was I? I remember my Dad beating the shit out of me and then I ran out, then I met Pietro... am I at his house? No, I must be in a hospital, this stuff on me has to be hospital equipment.

I felt Nat tilt my head towards her and my eyes opened, this time things were clearer and I felt stronger. I could make out Nat's features now and see her smiling at me as if to reassure me. The only thing wrong with this picture were the tears running down her face, Nat never cries. My arm moved behind me and pushed me up, I groaned from my tense muscles but frowned. I couldn't hear it, I couldn't hear myself. What the hell is going on? I saw Nat's face flicker with worry and she pressed a button, I started to go into full on panic mode. Nat still didn't talk, I couldn't hear myself, I couldn't hear anything! Somethings wrong with my ears!

"What's going on!?" I said desperately,  
I couldn't even hear what I was saying.  
Nat grabbed a piece of paper and started writing something, so that means she knows I can't hear. Oh God, does this mean something really is wrong with my hearing?  
"Nat..." I whimpered,

She showed me the paper and I swallowed nervously. It said: calm down, you're in the hospital. You woke up from a coma and the doctors are on their way. Just stay calm.  
I sat back against the hard plastic of my bed and watched Nat fiddle with her hands. Then lots of people hurried in and did all sorts of stuff. They checked my vitals and took the breathing mask off when they made sure I was breathing fine. I saw a man write down something on a whiteboard and hold it up for me.  
It read: hello Mr. Barton, my name is Doctor Carmichael and we're happy to report everything seems to be healing accordingly. There is something you need to know, we're afraid you were hit in an area that has injured your auditory pathway. Unfortunately you have become deaf, we're very sorry we cannot help.

I stared at that stupid whiteboard, reading it over and over as if the words would magically change. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair! Angry, hot tears gathered in my eyes but I forced myself not to cry. My throat started to ache from all my un-shed tears and my fists balled together. I saw Nat stand up and climb in bed with me, she wrapped her arms around me in a hug but I just sat there, motionless. I was deaf... I can't hear... I'm never gonna hear again. Nat was shaking, I could feel her tiny shivers. I couldn't do anything. My mind was in a rage and a storm. I felt like screaming until my voice was gone, wreaking the room I was in until everything lay broken and shattered, I felt like running and escaping the truth. In the end I sat there, unresponsive to the questions the doctor wrote to me. My grey eyes dulling until there was no spark left in them at all. I felt defeated, and I must have looked like it too.


	31. Dance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's late. Honestly you should probably expect it to be late half the time! 😂

Bucky's POV

I changed into my ballet outfit and slipped out of the change room with Jack, he was ranting about his favourite movie, the Hunger games. Telling me the plot, theories about the movies and facts. Sure, Jack was a chatterbox but it was oddly soothing. I usually let his words wash over me as I asked questions every once in a while, he was happy to have someone to talk to, he told me once. Jack, as I learned, was really into fantasy, dystopian themes and mystery. He had been shocked when he heard I'd never seen Harry Potter and told me I was gonna come to his house one day to watch them. I'd smiled at him and called it a plan. We stepped in with a group of people in our class and started to warm up, Natasha wasn't here yet. 

"Hi Bucky, how are You?" Peggy asked walking over,  
"M'good, how are You?" I smiled,  
"Not so great, I have a group project due tomorrow and my group is being a royal pain in the but. They just mess around and let me do the work for them!" Peggy tutted in her awesome British accent,  
"Oh." I said as we stretched,  
Just then the door opened and Natasha stormed in, something was clearly ticking her off.  
"Come on, get in formation!" Natasha barked,  
We all hurried to the side and got in position along the rail drilled into the wall. We knew not to mess with her when she was mad.  
"First position... second position... third position... fourth position... and rest in fifth." She ordered as we moved along to her commands.

The rest of class went by similarly as we practised to near perfection, Natasha would come around and fix our positions and moves wordlessly. I tried my best but it was hard, multiple times Natasha came over and sharply rearranged me. We practised our choreographed dances and took a break in the middle of class to get a drink and rest a bit. Breaks only lasted about five minutes. I cautiously walked over to where Natasha was sitting down and sat down next to her, she ignored me. It stung a little but I ignored the feeling.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly,  
"Yes."  
"Really? It doesn't look like that."  
"I'm fine Bucky! I'm completely and utterly healthy, nothing's wrong with me! It's my best friend that I'm worried about." She hissed,

I didn't reply to that, I didn't know how. I wished I was the old Bucky right then, the one who was adventurous and social. Knowing just what to say. That Bucky was gone though, I was the complete opposite now, struggling to figure out social cues and how to talk to someone. I felt a hand on my shoulder and jerked away from the touch, my breaths turning ragged as unwanted memories surfaced. I distantly heard Natasha saying my name, it was hard to hear over the frantic beats of my heart. Then her face was in front of mine, she was taking deep over exagerated breaths and I copied her. Finally calming down a bit, still feeling shaken up.

"Hey, just focus on me. You're fine, they can't get you. Whoever or whatever they are, you're safe from them." She soothed sounding oddly gentle,  
"Are you okay?" Jack asked running over,  
"Aha." I breathed,  
"I think you should go home." Nat whispered,

I nodded and stood up, I grabbed my bag from the locker room and changed back into my regular clothes. Sitting on a bench I called Mom who picked up on the second ring.

"Bucky? What's wrong, are you okay? Why are you calling in the middle of practise, did class end early?"  
"No, I just feel sick. Can you come pick me up?"  
"Of course! I'm on my way, hang tight. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."  
"Okay, see you then." I pressed end and the call ended,

I packed my phone away in my bag and sat, waiting for Mom. God, why do I have to be so messed up? Why do I have to have a panic attack every time someone touches me? You know why... You know exactly why. It haunts you everyday, isn't that right? The back of my head whispered. Yes I knew why I was messed up, I know who messed me up too. And it gave me nightmares every night to know they were still out there, they escaped from the police. Sometimes I hear their voice when someone talks or see the back of their head in a crowd. Brock Rumlow, the one who messed me up the most.


	32. Family dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Wakanda may be a made up place but the language they speak isn't, It's called isiXhosa and they speak this language in South Africa.

Shuri's POV

Hear me out, I'm a good friend! Really, I am! Sometimes I do questionable stuff but... my friends can always count on me. So naturally, being the good friend I am, I just HAD to figure out what happened to Loki. Cause I wanna help Loki, to show him we care! I'm well aware he'll get mad at me for prying but I mean, come on. He didn't come to school for a week and didn't answer our texts, he seemed shellshocked when we went to see him. Something happened, something bad. I just wish nothing bad had happened at all, why did there have to be bad things in the world? It's not fair, with everything we've accomplished in science, adaption of technology, advanced health care etc. Bad things still happen and we can't do anything about them. Like what happened to my Father.

"Shuri, come eat. ukutya kwakho kuyabanda."(your food is getting cold) Ramonda, my mother, said.  
"Coming." I called,  
"You are stuck in your head again, little sister." T'Challa grinned,  
"Well, at least I have one. Unlike you sport jocks!" I smirked sitting down at our table,  
"Well, at least I'm fit. You spend your days inside in a lab."  
"Well, at least I'm-"  
"All right you two, that's quite enough." My mother smiled,

We digged into our dinner, it was Border lamb coated in a spicy sauce made of thyme, rosemary, cilantro, cardamom, cinnamon, oregano, ginger and garlic. It was a delicious mix of sweet and spicy, traditional in our home country, Wakanda. We were currently here to experience school in America, it was different to Wakanda. Also to get away from the memories suffocating us, we'd return one day.

"Nenza ntoni nina nobabini esikolweni? Nantoni na enomdla?"(what are you two doing in school? anything interesting?) Mother asked,  
"Me and my friends have a game coming up, we're playing against Red Skull high. You and Shuri should come."  
"Ugh, and watch boys run around yelling and throw a ball back and forth?" I groaned,  
Mother burst into laughter as T'Challa glared at me, there was no heat to it though.  
"Of course we'll come, Okoye too." Mother soothed in her rich, comforting voice.  
"Well, me and Peter are making progress on our currant project. We're trying to create special bracelets that shoot webs like a spider! So that the wearer can eject them at will to swing from place to place!" I gushed excitedly,  
"Won't it just break? Spiderwebs are way too fragile to support a human." T'Challa said,  
"That's not true! Did you know that Spider silks are the toughest known biological materials, yet are lightweight? So if you add billions and billions of strands together than they would be strong enough to support humans!"  
"That is quite fascinating, how are you going to get that much spider silk?" Mother asked curiously,  
"Well, it's basically impossible. It would take our whole life to collect enough to try it so we've been trying to create our own version of the silk!" I smiled,  
"Very interesting, my two brilliant children, changing the world in their own unique ways!" 

My heart fluttered at the praise, I continued to eat as we shared our learning experiences at school. America was truly strange, Wakanda was so different. Even in the way we dress and treat each other, it's like different worlds. It was usual for us to tell each other stories of our day and have a laugh together, to eat as a family. At my friends house if their parents ask how their day was they only reply with a good and that's the end of it. I can see I'm closer to my family than others and for that I am truly grateful.


	33. A/N

Hi guys, sorry this isn't a chapter update. 

I just wanted to say I just posted a writing competion today that anyone can join. If you're interested you can find it in my list of stories, this is open to any ages and any type of stories! If you want more details it explains it all there on the competition.

I hope to see some of you guys there!


	34. A little outing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just had my yoga exam today, I got 100%! Also hope you enjoy and don't forget to join my writing competition of you want to!

Thor's POV

Loki was finally back at school, today would be his first day back. I was slightly nervous for my younger brother, I was also glad that I'd be there in case he needed me. On my way into school I saw friend Bucky standing next to friend Steve and Natasha. I jogged to catch up with them and smiled.

"Greetings!" I exclaimed,  
"Hey Thor." Steve smiled,  
Something wasn't right though, they all seemed anxious and worried.  
"My friends, what is the matter? Are you all alright?" I fretted,  
"Yep, peachy. One of my friends is just dealing with some shit right now." Natasha sighed,  
"Can we see him?" Bucky asked quietly while watching our feet.  
"But that means we'd have to skip school." Steve whispered,  
"Ya know What? What the heck let's do this! Let's go buy Clint his favourite burger and sneak it into him! The hospital food's probably gross." Natasha stated with determination.  
"May I come? I do not personally know your friend but it would be wonderful to make new friends, I promise not to be a bother." I spoke solemnly,  
"Of course big guy, now lets go before school starts and they see we're skipping." Natasha grinned,

We followed her to the parking lot and suddenly I stopped, remembering Loki. I turned back to look at him and saw him talking with his friends with a small smile. I turned back to Natasha hesitantly, I'm sure Loki will be fine. He has his friends of he needs them for anything. I hopped into the backseat of the car, followed by Steve. Natasha got in the driver's seat and motioned for Bucky to get in the front, next to her. Bucky looked at Steve nervously as if he wasn't sure what to do, Steve gave him and encouraging nod which made Bucky slide into the front seat carefully. We buckled up and Natasha pulled out of the parking lot, she turned on the radio to punk rock and turned the volume up. I listened to the music curiously, I'd never heard this type of music before. My Mother only played classical music at our house and my friends played pop music. This seemed to be... a lot more aggressive. We drove to Peggy's diner and got out, I looked around the building in fascination. The taste was very peculiar and old fashioned, I liked it. An old woman with a nice smile but stern eyes stood in front of us with her hands on her hips.

"What are you troublemakers up to now? Skipping school? This seems a little dodgy." The woman said in a beautiful British accent.  
"Clint's gotten really hurt, he's in the hospital and were gonna bring him one of your burgers to cheer him up." Natasha smiled,  
"Bloody hell! One second, let me get something cooked up for him, poor lad."  
I watched as she shuffled into a room behind the counter and I continued to look around in fascination.  
"So, you and your friend have been here before?" I asked curiously,  
"Yeah, me and my friends come here a lot." Natasha replied,  
"I also personally know Peggy, she's great." Steve smiled,  
"Here you go, I added a couple extra bits for Clint. God knows he'll need them." Peggy said as she brought a to go back of food,  
"Oh no Peggy, I only have enough money to buy a burger..." Natasha said guiltily,  
"Nonsense, it's on the house. You lot have been eating here for years, there's no need to pay today. Put it as a thank you gift for you choosing to eat here."  
"Thank you so much Peggy!" Steve smiled and gave the woman a gentle hug,  
She gave him a big smile and patted his cheek.  
"Go on you lot, Clint's waiting for you."

As the others bid their goodbyes and we got back in the car, I opened the bag carefully to see what she'd given us. I was surprised to not only see a burger but a large portion of chips, to-go coffee and a freshly baked muffin. What a kind woman she was! I must get to know her in the future! I carefully closed the food package and felt ,y stomach rumble, the delicious aroma of the food was provoking my hunger. Oh well, I can wait. 

We arrived at the hospital and got out, Natasha stuffed the food bag in her backpack so the doctors and nurses wouldn't see it and we walked in.  
"Jeez, I sure hope Ma doesn't see me..." Steve muttered nervously as we walked through different hallways.

"Relax, if she sees us then just tell her it's to see Clint, she'll understand." Natasha said as we winded further into the hospital. Natasha then stopped at a door before knocking and walking in before there was an answer. We all hustled in and I finally saw their friend, I think I recognized him from the halls in school. His eyes were closed but he was sitting up in bed, he had multiple bandages on him and was looking pale. The saddest thing was how miserable he looked, my heart broke for this boy. I hoped he would recover soon so he may get back to school and be happier. Natasha walked over to him and gently touched the bed, Clints eyes flew open and he took us in. His eyes settled on Natasha and he seemed to relax a little. Natasha had an excited gleam in her eyes which he seemed to pick up on because he looked at her curiously. Natasha pulled the food bag out of her bag and Clints eyes lit up, I wondered why they weren't talking.

"Thanks." Clint said rather loudly which made Bucky jump a little,  
His voice sounded rough as if he hadn't used it in awhile, I looked at Natasha in question.  
"He hit his head hard... He's deaf." Natasha whispered, getting emotional at the end.  
A small gasp left me as Buckys eyebrows knit together in concern. Steve looked grim and Clint was watching us... sadly? I wasn't sure, but then he pulled his food out and a smile spread across his face. He seemed content on eating his burger as we took chairs around him, Natasha stole a few fries every once and awhile. I sat in thought, poor Clint. No wonder he seemed sad, I would be too if I were him. I made up my mind to do whatever I could to help him, so that he wouldn't feel alone in the coming days.


	35. The tiny robot practise

Gamora's POV

Oh sweet merciful Lord, we have to practise with the tiny robots today! I stood next to Peter in disdain as I watched the teacher hand the baby's out, we were supposed to get them to practise with last week, but something went wrong with the shipping. I was glad for the delay but now I had to deal with them now.

"Peter and Zoey!" We walked up and the teacher handed us a random baby to practise with, ours was a Chinese girl, supposedly from the pink outfit.  
We took the baby back to our seat and just kept on the table, waiting for the others to be distributed and then the teacher would code them and turn them on. People were coming around with boxes of bottles, diapers and wrist bands for us to practise with. We weren't gonna put the wrist bands on, just hold them and stuff. I let Peter get our stuff and waited for the teacher to be done.

"Okay, I'm gonna load them up and we can get started!" Our teacher called out as she fiddled with her computer.  
A few minutes later the babies started to beep one by one and the teacher announced they were on. I stared at our "baby" in something akin to fear. I could already tell this wasn't going to go well. A baby across the room started to fuss and a girl picked it up carefully and pressed her wristband to the baby, which made a beeping noise, her partner was eyeing the baby with distrust. The baby started to full on cry as another baby started to fuss, it was already setting me on edge.  
"Remember to support their heads or they'll-"   
The teacher was cut off as a baby started screaming and the boy and girl desperately looked at the teacher, unsure of what to do.  
"-scream." Sighed the teacher, "Okay, if you don't support their heads, they will scream! If they start to scream the only thing you can do is rock them until they stop, they should stop in four or five minutes."  
Just then our baby started to fuss and my head snapped over to the baby, i looked at Peter who was also looking nervous.  
"Well? Do the bracelet thing!" I ordered,  
Peter huffed and put the bracelet over the babies chest until it beeped. The baby started to cry and Peter jumped back in fright, I looked at him desperately.  
"Try the bottle!"  
"You do it, I did the bracelet!" Peter insisted as the babies cry got louder.  
By now, everyone's babies were active and crying as we all figured out what to do.  
"Fine, just this once!" I said, only to get the baby to shut up.  
I grabbed the baby (as gently as I could) while I supported it's head, I did not want a screaming baby on my hands! I pressed he bottle to its lips and it stopped crying, it started to make weird drinking noises as if it was real. I positioned myself a bit better and looked at Peter who seemed relieved that it had stopped crying.  
"Can you believe we have to stand a week of this?" Peter sighed,  
"Fuck, I forgot. Thanks for reminding me." I said glaring,

The baby continued to drink for five minutes before it stopped, I placed the bottle down and walked over to Peter. I pressed the baby into his arms with a smirk. He grabbed on before I let go so the baby wouldn't break and looked at me in betrayal. He awkwardly shuffled his arms into a slightly more comfy position and I grinned as I took my phone out.

"I bet I know who would like to see this." I took a picture of Peter and sent it to Drax, telling him to send it to Thor.  
"What, who?" Peter asked obliviously,  
"You're future husband, Blondie."  
Peter blushed furiously and scoweled at me. "It's not like that Gam, we can't like each other. We're boys."  
I stopped and frowned at Peter, what the hell was he talking about?  
"Peter, there's nothing wrong with being in love with a guy. You know that right?"  
Peter looked confused and unsure, I sighed.   
"Let's talk about this later, we are talking about it though."  
"Okay..."  
Just then the baby started to cry again and we both groaned in unison.


	36. Yo let's have a party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm soooooooo Sorry! I had small writers block and didn't post last Wednesday! Thank you to anyone who's still reading this and comments would be AMAZING!... please?

Sam's POV

"Psst, Sam!"  
I turned around in my seat to see Bucky trying to get my attention. Usually Bucky didn't talk much, let alone to me. He mostly talked when Steve was with him, those two were tighter than the inside of voldemort's nose. So it was strange Bucky was trying to talk to me because Steve wasnt here today.  
"What?" I whispered back somewhat annoyed,  
I swear, if Bucky gets me in trouble...  
"Meet me outside class when it's done, I have something to tell you." He replied quietly,  
I nodded and turned back around, I checked the time and saw we had five minutes left. Our teacher continued to excitedly describe whatever it was she was trying to teach us. Unfortunately it looked like mostly everyone was on their phones under the desk or doodling. I almost felt bad for her. Almost. When the bell rang everyone packed up and ran out the door, I found Bucky trying not to be trampled as people shoved by him.   
"Okay, so we're hosting a party for Clint. You know why. All of Clint's friends are invited, it's gonna be this Saturday starting at 12. See you there." Bucky told me before jogging off,  
Party? Heck yes! I started thinking of the snacks I could bring, I had to remind myself why we were doing this though. Clint would be discharged on Friday, which gave him the day to rest before the party. He's probably sick and tired of resting though, it's all he's been doing. 

"Sam! Did you hear about the Party? It's gonna be at my place. Did Bucky tell you?" Tony asked,  
"Yep. Why's he coming though? I mean no offense but him and Clint aren't even friends."  
"Because Bucky and Steve have been hanging out with us a bit and they are beginning to be our friends... plus I invited him." Nat finished with a glare as if to say her words were the law and breaking them would provoke her wrath.  
"Fine, fine. So, is it gonna turn into a sleepover?" I asked,  
"Probably, it usually does." Bruce replied,  
"Oh, hey buddy! Didn't notice you over there!" I laughed,  
Bruce gave me a withering look and mumbled about how terrible his friends were.  
"Aww, Brucie bear, I'm your friend! Don't listen to that mean ol jerk!" Tony grinned as he wrapped Bruce up in a hug,  
"Please don't call me that." Bruce sighed,  
"Sighhhhhh!" Tony said,  
"Hey guys, what do you think if we invited Bucky and Steve to eat lunch with us from now on?" Nat asked suddenly,  
"Don't they have their own friends they sit with?" I asked,  
"Hmmm, you've been talking a lot about Bucky... you teach him dance and want to invite him to eat with us. Does Natty have a little crush?" Tony grinned as he leaned forward,  
I looked at Nat in interest, now that Tony mentioned it... Nat did seem to be taking a liking to Bucky.  
"Of course I don't you idiot, now shut up before I make you." She scoweled,  
"She mentioned Buckys name first when she talked about inviting the guys to our table." Bruce put in,  
"They also both speak Russian, remember on game day? They were both talking to each other in Russian, what if they were secretly flirting?" Tony added,  
"We were strategizing! Thinking of a way to win!" Nat hissed,  
Even though she was denying having a crush on him, the way she was getting so worked up about it was proof enough. If Nat truly didn't like him she'd stare at us as if we were the stupidest thing on the planet and shake her head. She'd just tell us to get our heads out of dreamland and continue lunch. It seemed Nat's forgotten her routine. Me and Tony smirked at each other as we thought of the same thing. We were gonna make this party one to remember.


	37. Defiance

Peter P's POV 

I sat on the bus stop bench as I waited for my bus to arrive, the cool Fall air nipped at my hands and face. The brown paper bag that Hunter gave me before I left was hidden in my school bag, weighing heavily on my thoughts. I quickly became bored and my mind started to wander, it filled with anger, hatred and disgust at myself. One stupid move and my life was in control of someone else. I could barely stand the thought of what I was doing. The lives I was destroying, the health I was lowering. I was selling drugs that ate up people's money and ruined them. All for a stupid boy. I should just man up and tell Wade what's happening, that way I can stop selling drugs and it won't matter if Hunter shows Wade the video. 

I scuffed my feet along the ground as I thought. Thinking of doing something brave and heroic was so much easier than actually doing it. I stood up on shaky legs as I pulled my phone out, pulling up Shuri's contact I started to call her.

"Yo Peter, what's up?" She replied,  
"Can you hack into the schools student database and find out where Wade Wilson lives?" I asked,  
"OH MY GOD! ARE YOU FINALLY GONNA ASK HIM OUT? This is awesome news! I'll rally the troops to tell them! You have to tell us every detail afterwards! So are you going to do something romantic like surprise him at his door with a rose and-"  
"Shuri, I promise I'll tell you guys what happened afterwards, but can you please do It? Fast?" I asked,  
"Give me five minutes, I'll text you his address."

I pressed end and took a shaky breath, I wasn't lying. I did have to do this fast, it doesn't take too long to sell drugs and Hunter will be expecting me to return with the money. I paced around for awhile before I heard my phone ping. I checked the address Shuri sent and typed it into Google maps. I grinned in relief when I saw he was a twenty minute walk from here, I could make it fifteen or less if I ran. I sent Shuri a thanks and started running as I followed the blue line pointing me in his houses direction. Five minutes of running in, my lungs began to strain with drawing in enough air. My face was probably going to be red too, from running and from the cold. A few times I almost ran into people as I'd been looking down at my phone, I'd always managed to bend and skid out of their way last minute. My Peter tingle. Finally I arrived at supposedly Wade's house out of breath and tired. I knocked on the door as I tried to even my breathing and slow my heart down. A sudden thought occurred that he might not even be home and I pleaded to anyone in the heavens to please let him be home. Luckily my prayers were answered (probably by nice aliens) and the door opened to reveal Wade's face.

"Peter? Hey, nice seeing You?" Wade said in confusion which sounded more like a question,  
"Hey, ugh, h-hey! How's it going?" I stuttered,  
"I'm good... are You? You look a bit... winded." Wade asked in concern,  
"What me? Yeah, yeah I'm fine! I was just on a run! So, can I talk to You?" I said trying to not totally look like a fool.  
"Of course, do you wanna come in?" He said with a smile,  
I stood on his porch in uncertainty, I should just get this over with now.  
"No, that's okay. I mean I'm sure your house is great and I don't mean offense but-"  
"Peter its okay, you don't have to be nervous around me. Come on, if you came all the way to my house, which I'm not even sure how you knew where I lived, you have to come in." Wade compromised,  
"Okay I guess. If you're not busy or anything." I sighed giving up, I couldn't resist Wade for long.  
"Come on in, make yourself at home. Do you want coffee or something?" Wade asked as he walked in.  
"No t-thanks, I just really need to talk to you." 

I cautiously walked into Wade's house (parents house?) And looked around. It was clean and tidy, there weren't any family photos anywhere but the place looked nice. Wade motioned me up the stairs and I followed him up. He opened one of the doors and held it open for me. I walked in in a trance, I was in my crushes room, could you blame me? He had a messy bed with a desk full of comic books and pencils. He had pictures of spray painted art on his walls and vintage lamps. It wasn't what I expected from a sports player but who was I to judge him? I liked his room, it was unique. Wade sat on his bed and pulled his desk chair out for me to sit on. I sat down cautiously and gathered the little courage I had left, this felt like one of the scariest things I had ever done. To be completely honest and open and vulnerable, it was hard.

"So..." I started with a squeak before clearing my throat, "I've... I made a mistake. Now I need to come clean to get out of my mess. The truth is I h-have a crush on you and I know you don't like me like that and it's okay because you don't have to like me and... I... I was giving myself a pep talk in the bathroom and a boy recorded me and has been making me sell drugs. If I didn't do what he asked then he'd send you the video of me basically admitting I like you and I just... couldn't handle that. But I'm done... doing that and even if you think I'm weird and a freak I can live with that. I can't live with ruining people's lives."  
I finished and looked at my feet in shame, I felt awful, telling him had been somewhat a relief but it mostly made me anxious and scared and feeling even worse. I felt like throwing up and crying and I wondered if I should jut leave, then I remembered the bag.  
"Oh, the boy gave me this to sell today. Just so you know I'm telling the truth." I showed him the inside of the bag without looking at his face.  
I shoved the paper bag back in my bag as I tried to suppress the hot tears that gathered in my eyes. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder but I didn't look up, I didn't want to look up.  
"Peter... I can't believe you had to go through all that shit. Hey, can you look at me?"  
I shook my head, unable to talk. I heard the bed shift and heard Wade walk to me, I saw him kneel down beside me. He wrapped an arm around me.  
"Peter, it's okay. Wanna know a secret? I have a crush on you too."  
My eyes widened and a shake rippled through me, before I knew it tears were rolling down my face and I couldn't stop them. My body shook with silent sobs as my hands covered my face. My feelings were indescribable, I still felt so scared but relieved and happy and I just felt a mix of overwhelming emotions.  
"Aww Peter..." I heard Wade whisper,  
He wrapped me up in a full hug, I still didn't look at him. Why? What was I scared Of? I didn't know.  
"Please look at me?" Wade asked as he slowly pulled my hands away from my face,  
Finally I raised my head and looked at Wade through blurry eyes. I knew I was a mess, my eyes were probably red and puffy and my face had blotches. Wade was smiling at me with his own tears glistening in his eyes.

"God, If I'd only gotten the balls to ask you out earlier none of this would have happened... I'm so sorry Pete."  
"Y-you're blaming yourself?" I laughed despite the situation,  
"Yeah. Peter, I need you to tell me who blackmailed you." Wade said firmly,  
Should I? Would I get in trouble with Hunter and his friends if I did? What would Wade do when I told him?  
"Hunter McDormand. What are you gonna Do?" I asked nervously,  
"Nothing right now, I'm gonna stay with you. But don't you worry about him anymore, he won't be bothering you."  
"Okayyyyy..." I replied uncertaintly,  
Wade chuckled and pulled me off of his chair and onto the ground beside him, he pulled me into a proper hug where we stayed for a while.  
"Can we just hug for a bit? I need to feel you right now." Wade whispered,  
"Yeah... I think we can do that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay you should probably just expect me to be late most of the time. I HAVE AN IMPORTANT QUESTION THOUGH! Since we're nearing some of our ships coming together I have to ask if you guys want there to be smut in this. I know some people want stuff like that and some people don't so I really need your thoughts! I actually can't write anymore chapters until I get some answers guys so try to reply as soon as you can!


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the two people that replied to me, their replies helped a lot! So I've decided to include some smut, to the people that don't want to read that I'll add a warning at the top of the page. In the chapters that do have smut I'll probably only do one chapter that week so I can focus on making the one I do really good.   
> As always thank you for all of the kudos and reads!

Loki's POV

I hurried to pull my shoes on, a smile gracing my face. Shuri just got off the phone with me and she'd said Peter was finally gonna tell Wade he liked him! This was important, we had to hear how everything went! I was heading to Shuri's right now, Scott would be coming soon too. To be honest we weren't sure how long we were gonna wait till Peter was done, it's not like any of us has declared our love to someone, Peter will be the first in our little group.

"Loki? Where are going dear?" Mother asked as she saw me walk by,  
I backtracked into the reading room where she was quietly sipping tea and reading.  
"I'm going to Shuri's house, Scott will be there too and Peter's coming at some point." I replied,  
"Alright, bring your phone and message me if you need to come home. Be safe Loki, I know they're your friends but it wont stop me from worrying about you." Mother smiled as she opened her arms up for me.  
Unable to resist I walked into her embrace, it was warm and loving. Mothers long beautiful hair tickled my face and made me smile. She rubbed my back and then we pulled away, I gave her a kiss on the cheek.  
"I promise I'll be fine, you don't have to worry." I reassured gently,  
"I know, go on then. You don't want to be late for your friends."  
I smiled and nodded, slipping out of the reading room.  
"Have fun with your friends Loki!" I heard Thor shout,

I shook my head in amusement before leaving the house and grabbing my bike, it was painted a lively green with gold running down in strips. Thor's was red with golden strips, it had been an idea I had that Thor joined in on. I strapped my green helmet with tiny gold horns onto my head. Mother had drilled into me and Thor's heads about bike safety and how important it was to wear a helmet. She'd done the same with wearing a seatbelt and the usual parent stuff like not going in a strangers car. I pedaled fast, I may not be as bulky or as strong as Thor or other people but it doesn't mean I'm not a little strong. I can bike faster than Thor for example, and I'm faster at running. 

I came to Shuri's house ten minutes later, her family was obviously rich. They had a four story house that was almost as big as our house and was very beautiful. The design for the house was modern yet hinted at old African heritage. For instance the long African patterned drapes pinned to the side of Windows and parts of their house was painted in long strips of patterns. Shuri and her family were a bit of a mystery, we didn't know anything about her past or what happened to her Dad. She never talks about it.

"Loki! Come on over, I have something to show you!" I heard Shuri call,  
I looked around and spotted her in her garden, I placed my bike at the edge of her house and jogged over.  
"Look, I found a nest of hornets. We have to get rid of them!"  
I grimaced, a nest of hornets wasn't what I'd been expecting.  
"Can't you get a servant to do that? I don't wanna get stung." I asked,  
"We don't have servants, besides, it'll be fun!"  
"What about that Woman that's always at your house? She seems like a servant... or a guard."  
"I told you, she's just a close family friend." Shuri insisted,  
"Okay, okay." I grumbled,  
Shuri told me to stay put and wait for Scott while she got clothes to protect us from stinging. I sat down a good distance away from the nest, keeping a wary eye out for stray hornets. Why Shuri thought this was fun was beyond me. Finally Scott showed up and I explained what Shuri wanted to do, he looked just as horrified as me. 

"Oh my God, I'm sending Peter an SOS. I'm gonna ask him if he's done and tell him Shuri's making us attack hornets."  
I laughed at Scott, he had a weird way of naturally being funny. It's like he almost didn't notice what he was saying sometimes.  
"Hey guys, where's Shuri?"  
Me and Scott shrieked as we jumped into each other's arms, heads whipping around to settle on Peter's grinning face. Well, someone looks happy, which can mean only one thing.  
"Peter! How did you- OH, HOW DID IT GO!?" Scott gushed,  
Peter sat on the ground cross legged and smiled, "I've gotta lot of stuff to tell you guys."


	39. The big reveal by Peter

Scott's POV

I stared at Peter, was he already on his way when he got my text? Cause how else would he get here so flipping fast! Focus on the important stuff Scott, PETER MIGHT HAVE JUST GOT A BOYFRIEND! 

"Tell. Us. Every. Single. Detail." Loki ordered,  
"Just wait till Shuri gets here, then I'm afraid I'm gonna have to dump a whole lot of reality on your plates." Peter grimaced,  
Oh no, did Wade say no? But he seemed happy when we first saw him. What's going on!?  
"Hey guys, I got the equipm- Peter!" Shuri cheered,  
"Hurry Shuri! Peter's gonna tell us about what happened!" I beamed in excitement with a twinge of dread.  
We all sat in a circle on the lawn, Shuri's trees and garden blocking us from view of the driveway and their house.  
"Okay... so, everything started at almost the beginning of school. Before I tell you guys what happened, you have to promise to try to not interrupt before I finish. Okay?" Peter explained,  
"Alright." Shuri said warily,  
"No promises." Loki decided,  
Peter looked at me and I gulped, things had to be bad if he didn't want us to interrupt. Either super bad or super romantic.  
"Okaaaaaay..." I said uncertaintly,  
"Good, now I was in the bathroom..." Peter spoke,

Peter went on to tell us all about Hunter and the things he made Peter do, Shuri interrupted angrily through it multiple times. Loki looked like he was just barely holding his tongue and me? I felt shocked, angry, sad, guilty, like a failure, the list was endless. We hadn't been there for Peter, we should have given him the pep talk ourselves. We should have been more understanding so he felt like he could have told us. Why didn't he tell Us? We already knew... does he really not trust us that much? 

"Okay. So then, I finally told Wade and he likes me too!" Peter finished,  
Well... at least that went right for Peter.  
"So are you dating now?" Loki asked carefully, tension breaking through his voice.  
"No, we're gonna take it slow."  
"Why didn't you fucking tell us?" Loki blurted out in an angry hiss,  
"Guys, I know I should of but come on. You still hav'nt told us what happened to you Loki, you don't really have a right to tell me off." Peter sighed,  
Loki's mouth opened and closed, I was shocked to see his anger fade and slowly be replaced by sadness.  
"You're right. It's just... hard. Hard to tell you guys."  
"I know, we know. Sometimes you just gotta take a risk though. You gotta try to open up, to let go. It's... Like a leap. A leap of faith, that's all it is. And once you reach the other side, you'll realize the risk was worth it." Peter explained,  
"You dork." Loki laughed as he wiped at his eyes,  
"Yeah, you're totally one of us too though." Shuri said gently as she wrapped her arm around Loki.

I felt like I should have been consoling them in some way so I wrapped Peter in a hug. Eventually we just all group hugged it out as Peter broke down. It seemed he'd been keeping the tears of his trauma at bay, but the floodgates had opened. I sighed and did my part of rubbing backs while me and Shuri comforted Peter and Loki who was on the verge of crying. I wish we didnt have sadness in our world. I wish people weren't cruel and twisted and nasty. I wish I didn't have to always be the person to help people out, I just wanted to be normal. I wanted to hang out with my friends and not have to worry about them breaking down or revealing another dark secret. I knew I had to be more compassionate though. It wasn't fair for me to wish those things because whatever bitter feeling I was having, was a thousand times worse then what Peter's feeling. He's going through more than any fourteen year old should be. So yeah, life's not fair.

"Shuri! Your Mother is requesting that you and your fri- oh." Okoye stopped when she saw us.  
I'd learned her name and a bit about her last time we came here, she was nice but slightly scary.  
She'd obviously seen Peter in tears and us all huddled together on the grass. She turned around and started walking back to the house.  
"You know what, I'm just going to tell your Mother that you are busy."  
We watched her retreat before I flopped onto the grass and giggled, the giggle turned into a full on laugh as I clutched my sides. Soon Loki joined me and tears of laughter formed in my eyes. Shuri burst into laughter from just watching us and Peter couldn't help but join in. His voice doing that weird hiccup thing that made us roar in laughter even harder. Yeah life sucked, but we'd be okay. As long as the nerd squad was together than we'd find a way to laugh our asses out of every situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to remind everyone that the writing contest is ending in five days. If you want to submit a piece then you have to send it to me as soon as possible!


	40. A fight

Steve's POV 

I woke up with a yawn, I rubbed my eyes to get the blurriness out of them. I swung my legs out of bed and checked the time on my watch on my nightstand. 7:30, plenty of time to get ready. I stretched and picked up the outfit I chose to wear last night, it was a pair of jeans with a white t-shirt and a blue jacket. I had a quick five minute shower before changing into my clothes, I ran my hands through my hair and combed it back. I gave a charming smile to myself in the mirror with finger guns before laughing and shaking my head. 

I walked into the kitchen, our currant house only had one floor and was pretty small but we made it as cozy as we could. I saw a note on the fridge from Ma, probably saying she had a late night and was sleeping in. I checked it and frowned, she was going in for a morning shift even though she'd worked late last night. I was worried about her, if she kept up like this then she'd work herself to death. I helped out where I could, helping at the hospital. I was looking into getting a part time job to help pay the rent and electricity bills. I was thinking about asking Peggy if I could work at her diner, then I'd have fun as she told me stories of her experiences and I could earn money by helping to cook or be a waiter.

I made a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast and ate as I doodled in my sketchbook. This time I was drawing a lone girl standing in the forest by herself. I shaded in parts to bring out the 3d effect and added a light source. After I finished eating I packed my school lunch, I was one of the only people in my friend group to bring a lunch. In fact, most people at school buy their lunch. I packed my textbooks and homework into my bag and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, then I pulled socks on and my vintage red nike sneakers I found in a consignment store. I checked I had everything and packed my phone in my bag, it was a birthday present from Thor that had shocked me beyond words when I got it. I'd ended up hugging him and luckily Thor was also a hugger, Thor had such a big heart.

I locked the door behind me and started walking to school, it took around half an hour to walk. I'd rather walk then take the bus though, it'd eat up our money fast. I waved to my neighbor Mr. Gillmor and high fived Lyric, the cute eight year old that lived four houses down from me. Lyric and her older sister Anna were homeschooled, sometimes I went over to give them art lessons. It always resulted in a mess but was pretty fun. 

Eventually when I did get to school I looked around for Bucky who always waited for me, it was normal by now. I saw him by he trees that grew along one pathway to the front door, he was wearing a black hoodie and black ripped jeans, he wore dark brown doc martens with black lases. His hair was half down, half up in a bun and he had his bag slung on his shoulder. After Bucky came back from Russia his style completely changed, he used to have his hair cut short and fashionable while he told me he wished he had the money to buy popular clothes. Now it seems he doesn't care what he wears as long as it's mostly dark. He spotted me and a tiny smile lit up his face, I wish he smiled more often. He used to smile all the time, he was the social butterfly that dragged me to party's and events. Now it's the opposite.

"Hey Buck!" I called out and jogged over.  
"Hey."  
"So, you wanna see my latest addition?" I asked as I wiggled my eyebrows,  
Bucky smiled fully and nodded, I handed him my sketchbook and he opened it to my latest page. His grey eyes scanned over every detail and took it in, he looked up and nodded. Then he started flipping through the rest of the pages, I let him, it was like our thing. Even before the incident I would always draw and the only person I'd show them to was Bucky. His eyes settled on a drawing and he stopped flipping, he looked up at me and then back to the page.  
"It's Tony." He said,  
I looked at the page and nodded, somewhat embarrassed. I'd drawn Tony without him knowing and some part of me felt like I'd broken a rule, that he had to consent. Which really he should for me to draw him.  
"It's good, he'd like it. You should give it to him." Bucky replied in his soft voice, like he was afraid of talking too loud.  
"Really? What if he gets mad that I drew him?" I asked,  
"He won't. If he does then just apologize and move on. Besides, he'll have me to deal with." Bucky said smiling.  
I almost stopped breathing for a second, he'd sounded just like the old him when he'd said the last sentence. Was he finally getting better? Tears of joy sprang to my eyes, my best friend could be finally recovering.  
"Yeah, I'll give it to him." I decided,

Bucky continued to look through my sketchbook and stopped at another drawing. I looked down and looked back at Bucky to see his reaction. It was Bucky as he looked out of the window, his hair was down and the light shone off him making him look like an angel. He had been in one of his trances that made him stare off into space for a long time. The thing is, I'm not sure Bucky realizes he does it.  
"It's me." He said and gave me a curious look,  
"I couldn't help it, you're just so pretty!" I laughed and started walking off,  
"Hey, Steve!" Bucky called and ran up to me.  
He handed me my sketchbook with a glare, I gave him a sweet and innocent smile back.  
"Call me pretty again and I'll tell everyone about the time you stole that man's hat." Bucky threatened,  
"Okay, Okay! Note taken! Please don't tell anyone, it was your idea in the first place and besides. We were six!" I chuckled,  
We stepped into school and started walking to my locker, I heard loud shouting coming from up ahead and looked back at Bucky. He looked at me grimly and then rolled his eyes.  
"It's probably some fight that broke out about a girl or something." He muttered,

We pushed our way through the crowd and up to the front to see what was going on. I gasped when I saw who was fighting. Wade Wilson, my friend on the football team, was beating up a smaller boy that I recognized from grade 10 or 11. Wade had a bloody nose and bruises already forming on his temple which meant the other guy had managed to throw some punches too. Just then someone shoved up behind me and ran up to the two guys, it was Peter, I'd talked to him a few times. He ran up to Wade and tried to stop him from beating up the other guy.

"Wade! Wade, what are you doing? Stop!" Peter shouted,  
I wondered if I should go and help Peter separate the two boys but Bucky didn't do well in big crowds by himself. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, he looked nervous and had inched a bit closer to me. Yeah, I definitely wasn't leaving him. I knew a teacher would come soon and separate them, I should just make sure my friend's okay. I tugged on Bucky's sweater sleeve and he looked up at me. I motioned for us to get out of here with my head, he nodded and followed behind me as I pushed people lightly to get past. It was probably best if we got out of here before the principle found us, he could be scary.  
"You Okay?" I asked Bucky as we started walking to class.  
"Aha." He replied,  
I sighed, what a way to start my morning.


	41. A bit of background

Gamora's POV 

I stood next to Nebula as I recorded the fight that was happening, a grin on my face.  
"Can we please just go?" Nebula asked,  
"No. I wanna get the whole thing!"  
"But if Father finds out we recorded a fight we'll get in trouble!" She hissed,  
"No we won't, he'll probably be proud!" I insisted,  
"Maybe of you, but I'll get in trouble. Just like I always do!" She whispered angrily,

Guilt rolled through me, it was true. It was no secret our Father favoured me, Nebula constantly got in trouble for things and would end up hurt. Once she disappeared without telling us where, Father was so angry he beat her until she was black and blue and shaved her hair off. I tried to stop him from hurting my little sister but he just said he'd hurt her more if I tried to intervene. She told me later that her school bus broke down and they'd had to wait forty minutes for another one to arrive. Then the bus driver that brought them home kept getting the teens stops wrong and would have to backtrack. She'd ended up being three hours late. She hadn't even gotten the time to explain why she was late before the first blow came.

"Ehhh, this fight is kind of lame anyway, let's get out of here." I told her,  
Even though me and Nebula had a rocky relationship I still loved her and looked out for her, even if she didn't feel the same. I saw the fleeting relief cross her face and I started shoving people put of the way to get out. I noticed teachers trying to get through the mob of teens and they started to shout at everyone to get to class. Me and Nebula headed to gym, the only class I had with her. Even though I was seventeen and a year older than her we were in the same grade because I dropped back a year. It was great because I got to have class with Peter, my friends and even a class with my sister. We headed into the change rooms and Nebula headed for an empty stall to change into. I just changed on the bench with a bunch of other girls. I wasn't riddled with scars that had to be hidden by long sleeves and leggings. Another pang of guilt hit that I shoved away, I slipped into my shorts and t-shirt and pulled sneakers on. I waited with my hands hovering until I heard the stall open, I then proceeded to pack my clothes in my bag like I'd just finished. That way I could walk out with Nebula.

"Gamora!" I heard Mantis call,  
I jogged over leaving Nebula to trail behind me, Mantis waved happily.  
"Oh, hi Nebula! Do you guys wanna do some volleyball bumps to each other?" She asked cheerfully,  
"Sure." I replied,  
"No thanks, I'll just watch you two." Nebula mumbled and sat on a bench near where we walked over with a volleyball.  
I held the ball in my hand and swung my arm forward, my hand in a fist. I hit the ball with my forearm and watched it sail into Mantis' waiting arms, she hit the ball back to me and we continued back and forth. Sometimes we spiked it for the fun of it. When everybody was in the gym and changed, the gym teacher blew her whistle and we all stopped playing. 

"Today we're going outside to play soccer. We'll be playing mini games with five people per team, each team will play against each other and then for the last twenty minutes or so you can do what you want. Alright, grab a soccer ball, some pylons and let's go."  
The jocks bustled outside, leaving the nice and responsible people to actually bring the equipment outside. Nebula didnt bother to bring anything and I rolled my eyes. Would it hurt for her to be engaged and willing to try a game once? She obviously hated gym, whereas I loved It. It's crazy how different we are, but then again, I was adopted. She's not my real sister and Thanos isn't my real Father. I walked out with Mantis beside me, honestly if the others weren't friends with her I wouldn't be, she's too cheerful for my liking. 

We walked out and onto the schools field, our class laughing and chatting. The boys shoving each other around and the girls on their phones and talking in tight groups. The joys of highschool. The teacher told us to get into groups of five and me, Mantis, Nebula, a girl named Pepper and a girl named Hope made a team. We were given red tops to put over our own to show we were a team and were called up for the first game. I positioned myself and nodded to Hope who was the goalie. The teacher blew her whistle and I set off running with a grin.


	42. Setting up

Nat's POV 

After a long hard week of sitting at desks and listening to lectures, it was finally the weekend. The sun was bright and warm as it peeked out behind my curtains, I checked the time and saw it was 7:14. I got out of bed and changed into my clothes, no need to shower when I know something will happen that I'll need to shower later. The party we had organized for Clint was happening today, I was gonna help setup and stuff. Later on I would pick up Clint and bring him over. With all the stress around his Dad hopefully he'd enjoy a break, his Dad had been arrested when it was clear Clint wasn't lying. I also got interviewed by the police to backup Clint, everyone was still unsure what was going to happen though. I went downstairs to my small kitchen and started to prepare a ham sandwich for breakfast, I toasted the bread and peeled three slices of ham away from each other. After I ate I went into my "training" room. Really it was supposed to be an office but I'd put a boxing bag in there and targets to practise with my knives. I had a shaky past and had every reason to know how to defend myself, besides, I wasn't the one to teach myself how to fight in the first place.

I took a throwing knife and closed my eyes, flicking my wrist the knife flew from my hand. I heard the satisfying thunk of the knife embedding in the target and smiled, opening my eyes I saw it was just slightly to the left of the center. I guess I can't aim as good as Clint but I'm more of a close up fighter anyway. I kept practising until I got bored, then I moved onto boxing. Wrapping my hands up to protect them I stood in a fighting stance. I attacked the bag with force, powerful hits and kicks brought upon it. When I trained, I felt safe. Like I was invincible and nothing could hurt me. I loved the rush of adrenaline and the movement of fighting, the rhythm and randomness of the moves. It was like a dance, except dangerous and fast. Strong and rough. Perfect for a broken girl with a terrifying past.

My phone beeped and I stopped, taking a couple of cooling breaths I walked over to check my phone. My alarm I'd set up so I wouldn't be late to help set up at Tony's had gone, I walked out and then took a shower. I changed into skinny ripped jeans and a dark green t-shirt with a black long sleeved top underneath. I pulled on my black low rise converse and tied half of my short red hair in a bun. Applying a light amount of makeup I grabbed my ready to go sleepover bag that I always had in my closet. Stuffing my phone in my pocket I walked out and locked the front door behind me. I climbed into my car and started it up, it made a worrying noise that soon faded and I silently pleaded for it to stay alive for another month at least. I turned on the radio to classical music and started driving to Tony's. When I wasn't around other people I liked to listen to classical, hey, everyone's got something dorky or oldy they love. 

When I arrived I saw Sam's car already there and I knew the others had either gone with Sam or gotten some other lift. I parked the car and locked it, even if this was a posh neighborhood, you can be never too sure. I walked up and knocked, I heard running before Tony opened the door with a smile.

"Nat! Come on in, mostly everyone's here except Steve and Bruce. Bruce said he's running a bit late because of traffic and Steve should be here any minute. Oh, also Wanda's brought Pietro, do you think that's Okay?"  
I thought about, honestly he was okay. Obviously I'm gonna keep an eye on him, but he was also the one that found Clint and brought him to the hospital. Who probably saved Clints life. So yeah, I think it was okay, I didn't think Clint would have a bad reaction.  
"Probably." I replied,  
"Good, come on!" Tony chirped,

I walked in after him and followed him to his kitchen, I saw Sam baking something in Tony's kitchen and the others decorating. I noticed Wanda helping hang up paper chains with a big smile, she was wearing a pretty black dress with a dark blue cardigan. I saw Bucky standing on a chair cautiously as he taped one end of a paper chain to the corner of the kitchen ceiling. He was wearing a dark blue long sleeved loose top and dark grey jeans, combat boots on his feet with the bits going up his leg hidden by his jeans. His hair was in a messy braid as he stuck his tongue out of the edge of his mouth in focus. He looked adorable. Snap out of it Nat! Pietro seemed to be helping to make a playlist with Tony, my fingers curled into fists when I realized Clint wouldn't be even able to hear the music. I dumped my bag on the table and walked over to Sam.

"Anything for me to do?"  
"Yes! I'm making a cake for him but I need you to make the frosting for the inside and the top! Can you also cut up strawberries to decorate it and look for the frosting to write on it?" Sam pleaded.  
"Sure." I replied casually.

I opened Tony's massive fridge and took out the frosting in those little bags you squeeze to decorate cakes. I then grabbed my phone to look up a frosting recipe. I found a recipe that looked good, it was a buttercream frosting. Seeing as the cake was chocolate I thought it would compliment the cake nicely. I took out milk, sugar, vanilla extract and butter. Following the recipes instructions and mixing them together.  
"Hey! Hello?" I heard Steve call out as the door closed,  
I saw a huge smile grow on Tony's face before he slid on the waxed floor in his socks towards Steve,  
"Hi Steve! Come on this way, mostly everyone's here already!"

I cut up the strawberries as I listened to the conversation around me. I heard a chair crash down and spun around, thinking Bucky had fallen over and gotten hurt. I relaxed a little when I saw the chair had been empty, someone probably just backed into it or something. Wanda looked apologetic as she picked the chair up and put it right, I smiled at her to ease a bit of her tension. Steve walked in with Tony, I saw Steve had a tub wrapped up. I watched Bucky walk over and peek into the tub, he grinned and talked to Steve for a bit. 

"So, what are we actually gonna do when Clint gets here?" I asked Sam,  
"Tony says we're gonna play some video games and then go swimming in his pool, apparently he has a setting to make the pool water warm! Rich people, you gotta love going to their house. Then we're gonna give him the cake and eat stuff, after that who knows."  
"Hey guys." I heard Bruce call out,  
"Hi!" Tony shouted back,  
"Bruce, nice to see you again!" Wanda beamed as Bruce walked in,  
Bruce smiled at her and we all went back to work. Pietro was being pretty quiet but everyone else seemed to be having a good time. Well, Bruce and Bucky were quiet but that's kinda normal.  
"Nat, I think it's time for you to get Clint." Steve told me as he checked the time on his phone,  
"WHAT!? I'm not gonna have time to finish the cake! Stop everything you're doing guys and come help me! I need extra hands!" Sam worried,  
I laughed and grabbed my car keys out of my bag, I walked out and went to get Clint.


	43. How's this gonna go?

Clint's POV 

I looked at myself in our cracked bathroom mirror, my face grim with bruises still littering my pale features. I had stitches on my forehead that could come out soon, I hated how beat up I looked. No amount of makeup could hide the damage my Dad had created. My body still ached, it felt like it'd never fade. The worst part was the silence. It blanketed everything in a dangerous quiet. I couldn't hear doors opening, people talking, machines beeping, nothing. It's like I was trapped, trapped in my own silent world that no one could enter but me.

I turned around and grabbed my crutches, sick of looking at myself. I was wearing a pair of clean jeans I'd found and a purple zip sweater. I wore my purple converse and hobbled out on my crutches, I shouted to Barney that I was leaving. I had no idea how loud I'd shouted, I couldn't hear myself. I never heard him reply. I wonder if he replied, forgetting I can't hear. I hobbled out and sat down on our porch, waiting for Nat. I kept my eyes on the road at all times so I'd know when she came. I felt like absolute shit. It still hurt to breath and my head felt foggy. I wondered if it was a good idea to go to a party right now, the music could give me a headache. Would there be music? If there is would it give me a headache even if I couldn't hear it? I had a lot of unanswered questions about my... disability. God I hate that word.

I saw Nat's car come and I got up on my good foot, I rested my crutches under my armpits again and went to the edge of my tiny garden. Nat parked her car and jumped out, she smiled and opened the back door for me. Did she want me to sit in the back? Did I have to? She then pointed to my crutches and into the backseat, I understood and put my crutches on the backseat. She took hold of my arm gently and pulled it over her shoulder, she helped me hop to the passenger side of the car and helped me get in. I pulled my seatbelt on and Nat did the same, I hated the silence between us. I wanted to hear Nat's voice, hear her tell me that everything was gonna be okay. I wanted to hear her laugh and mine as I joked about something stupid. I just wanted to be myself again. I blinked back tears, I didn't know how I was gonna get through today. I noticed Nat never turned the music on for herself, was it cause she didnt want to make me feel lefy out? I felt somewhat warmed and guilty that i was changing her life so much. How was I even gonna communicate with everyone? Would I have to bring a notebook for everyone to write in? Would I have to learn sign language?

I felt the car stop and I looked up, I saw we were already at Tony's house. I unbuckled myself and opened the door, Nat took my crutches out as I maneuvered my way out of the car. She handed them to me and we started walking up, Nat opened the door for me and I walked in. I could imagine the arguing and laughs coming from my friends. We walked into the kitchen and I saw Bruce, Steve, Wanda, Bucky, Tony and Pietro standing with smiles. Tony was holding a cake that said "welcome back dork!" Written on it. Just then Sam ran in holding a tub of cut up strawberries and panic flashed across his face when he saw me and saw Tony holding the cake. He smacked his face with a hand and talked to the others about something, he gestured to the cake and the strawberries. I burst into laughter, they probably forgot to put the strawberries on the cake. I looked up and saw everyone had stopped talking and was looking at me with smiles. It felt weird, it seemed like it'd be some big spectacle whenever I opened my mouth. I missed the days when I could just talk.

I gave everyone a thumbs up, maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. Wanda pulled out a chair for me and took my crutches as I sat down, Wanda was so sweet. Tony rested the cake on the table and took put a big knife to cut it. He looked at the knife with a grin and a manic look in his eyes. Steve frowned and Tony laughed, patting Steve on the shoulder. He held out the knife to me but I shook my head. I didnt want to cut the cake. It wasnt my birthday, it wasnt some big celebration, it was just a party. Sam said something and Tony started to cut it into straight even pieces. He cut enough slices for all of us to have two if we wanted, Sam served the pieces onto plates and started handing them to people.

I took a bite, it was so good! It was chocolate with buttercream frosting on the top and in the middle. I saw Sam begrudgingly add strawberries to his slice and I grinned. The cake was gone in no time at all, I wonder who made it. Tony led us all into his room, where his Xbox was. I noticed designs on Tony's desk and hobbled over on my crutches to see them. My eyes widened as I saw weapon designs with the Stark logo on them. Was Tony designing weapons? Why? Tony ran up to me and grabbed the designs, he shoved them into a desk drawer and shook his head at me fast. A panicky look was on his face and I got his message easily enough, he didn't want anyone to know. Why? I gave him a pointed look and he raised his eyebrows at me. Okay, maybe I was a bit of a hypocrite but still. I'm not the one designing weapons! 

Nat beckoned me over when I turned around and I huffed, I wondered how loud it was. I decided to abandon my crutches and hop over, I waved my arms around to give them a good show too. I sat down next to Nat and Steve sat on the other side of me. He tapped my shoulder and I turned, he gave me a sympathetic look. I hated it, I didn't want to be the person everyone felt bad for, I just wanted to get on with life. He then smiled at me and patted me on my shoulder, very gently. I was glad cause my injuries weren't properly healed yet.

Me, Nat, Steve and Wanda played a game of Revengith, a four player game where you are stranded on "monster island" with a certain amount of food, first aid kits and water. There's monsters all over the island you have to fight and rival players that are also playing. It's pretty fun. The others were probably cheering, I felt bitter I couldn't hear it. My character was traveling along the river and I jumped slightly when a big beast jumped at me from out of the water. It looked freaky. I started to attack the monster but it started to kill my health, I then tried to run but it was faster than me. I frowned when I was killed. I opened my mouth to tell the others there was a new powerful monster I discovered when the silence of my world reminded me I couldn't. Not without being too loud, too quiet or sounding like a freak. I closed my mouth. I didn't want to play this anymore, I didn't feel like doing anything. I wondered how I would tell them, I felt like I was suffocating. I couldn't speak or tell them what was on my mind. 

I raised my hand, it felt stupid but I didn't know what else to do. I looked around and saw everyone looking at me, I flopped my hand back down and cleared my throat. I asked if we could do something else. I could feel how rough and terrible my voice sounded as it scraped out of my throat. I had no fucking idea what it sounded like though. Everyone nodded with a smile, Tony turned his Xbox off and packed the controllers away. I saw Tony go into his walk in closet and dig around for a bit, he eventually pulled out swimming trunks. He held them up and wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively. I nodded with a small smile, good thing I had a swim outfit at Tony's.


	44. Partaaay

Pietro's POV

We were all ready and walking down to Tony's pool, Wanda's swim outfit looked great on her and hugged her curves. I'd had to make sure no one was ogling my sister. When Natasha came out it had been hard to look away, she'd worn a tight strapless blood red bikini set. Tony was in gold and red swim shorts and Bruce was in a green pair. Sam wore dark blue ones with little yellow ducks, Clint wore black and dark purple shorts with a purple t-shirt. I noticed Bucky was also wearing a t-shirt that was black, it still showed off his gleaming metal arm. We were walking through Tony's oh so posh house to his pool, I noticed Clint stuck close to Natasha. I knew he wasn't having the best time, I'd seen emotions flicker across his face all throughout the party. I'd seen sadness, despair, longing, it had been hard to look at. He'd also not gone anyway near me, I didn't blame him. I shouldn't even be here really. I treated Clint horribly before the incident, I'd bullied him. I'd done it just for the sake of becoming one of the popular guys, and I'd chosen Clint to bully because... I'd felt something unusual for him. Something I still wasn't too comfortable about. I shouldn't be here, I'm definitely not any of these guys friends. The only reason I came in the first place was because Wanda told me if I didn't help her set up for the party then it would be a disaster. Somehow she roped me into more and more things so I couldn't slip away, before I knew it Clint had arrived. Then Wanda told me it would have been rude to leave, she also said that I should be here. I really didn't think I did.

We arrived at Tony's indoor pool, it was really big with a small water slide near the end. I saw a Jacuzzi at the edge of the room too, Tony pressed a button and coloured lights lit up on the walls of the pool, making the water light up. Me and Wanda's mouth fell open, this was... insane! Tony then pressed a few more buttons, one made water start to flow down the slide into the pool and the other didnt do anything obvious.

"I just heated up the pool a bit so we don't freeze, come on, let's party!" Tony chirped,  
"о боже, это так круто!" (oh my god, this is so cool!) I breathed,

Natasha chuckled at me and dipped her toes in the water, Bucky also cracked a smile. Could they speak Russian? I couldn't remember if Wanda had ever mentioned it to me. Sam ran full speed and jumped into the water, creating a big splash. Wanda laughed and followed Sam, jumping in. Tony went straight to his water slide and Steve followed, Bucky sat at the edge of the pool as he watched Tony and Steve go down the slide laughing. Bruce climbed into the pool from the steps descending into them and started to float around. I decided to just go have fun, I ran and jumped into the pool. The warm water swallowed me as I sailed underwater, eyes flying open to look around. My vision was blurred and my eyes stung a bit but I could see coloured shapes moving around. I pushed up and broke to the surface. I saw Bucky had gotten wet and was glaring at me. I smirked at him, I kicked water up at Bucky as tried to shield himself with his arms.

"вот и все, ты на связи." (That's it, you're on.) Bucky muttered,  
I grinned and watched Bucky slide into the water cautiously, strangely he kept his t-shirt on. He then narrowed his eyes at me and kicked water into my face. A full on water fight erupted, Bruce swam to the edge of the pool but the others joined in. I only just noticed Clint at the edge of the pool beside Bruce. I felt bad we were basically having his party without him. As if thinking the same, Natasha made a come here motion with a slant of her head as if asking him. He shook his head and gave us a smile. It seemed genuine, was he having fun watching us get our buts kicked?

"Help!" Sam shrieked with laughter as Steve kept chasing him and trying to tickle Sam,  
Tony and Natasha seemed to be caught in their own war as they attacked each other and ran away. Bucky had retreated slightly and was watching everyone, I noticed Wanda having fun too. She then looked at me with an evil smile and started to swim over. I kicked water at her and she sputtered.  
"That's cheating Piet!" She laughed,  
I shrugged and swam away as Wanda followed and tried to get me. We ended up spending an hour in the pool, Natasha even managed to get Clint to swim with her in the middle of the pool where it was deep. He was a good swimmer so it didn't seem like a big deal, he still looked nervous at times though. I wondered if it was because he couldn't hear? When we all got out we were pretty tired and in need of some food. We all got changed back into our clothes and Tony gave Bucky an extra shirt to change into. We all flopped onto Tony's couches as Tony went to bring in snacks for us, Sam started to play music and the atmosphere became relaxed. I wondered what we'd do next, we wouldn't watch a movie would we? That wouldn't be fair on Clint, even if it was subtitled.  
"Hey guys, let's play T or D!" Natasha offered with a grin.


	45. Chapter 45

Bucky's POV

T or D? What was that? It was probably some typical teenager game that was aweful, but me and Steve had never played anything like that when we were younger. I'd also never gone to any parties Steve and the others had thrown, Steve always tried to convince me to come but I'd put my foot down. The only reason I'd come to this party was because it was for Clint, someone who deserved to be celebrated and deserved a good time. I was sitting on the couch next to Sam who grinned at me and stood up, I was starting to get nervous about what this game was.

"I'm guessing everyone knows how to play, right?" Tony asked us,  
"Actually, me and my brother have never played that game before. How does it work?" Wanda asked,  
Relief flooded me, I wouldn't have to admit that I didn't know how to play.  
"So basically t means truth and d means dare. We go around and ask someone truth or dare and they pick one or the other. If they pick truth you can ask them anything and they have to answer. If they choose dare you can make them do anything, within reason, that they have to do. Lets go up to my room to play!" Tony explained,

Everyone jumped up and started following Tony to his bedroom, I saw Natasha make a t and a d with her fingers, Clint nodded in understanding. I wondered how Clint was going to play if he couldn't hear us talk. I felt bad for Clint, I'd been watching him. I saw him start to suffocate when they were playing that game. He looked like he felt trapped, unable to get attention or voice his thoughts. I'd almost spoken up for him when he did it himself. I also saw him by the pool, when he stared at the water in fear. He swam fine later on so he couldn't have been afraid of actually swimming, I think I knew why. If he went under, he wouldn't know how loud to shout, he probably wouldn't be able to shout. He wouldn't be able to hear where the others were and anyone could sneak up on him. He was vulnerable in the water, more so than normal. He was probably afraid of losing control of his surroundings, of not being able to stop something from hurting him. I knew how he was feeling to a degree, I knew it was a terrifying time.

"Come on Buck, I saved a spot for You!" I heard Steve shout from Tony's room,  
I hurried up and walked in, I noticed with interest that Steve was also sitting next to Tony. Close. Closer than two guys who weren't even proper friends yet should have been sitting. I already knew Tony liked Steve, it wasn't that hard to pick up if you were watchful and tuned in to your surroundings constantly. I wondered if Steve liked him too. I felt a pang of pain in my heart at the thought. I knew it was selfish but a part of me didn't want Steve to date anyone because then he'd be with them more then me. Steve was my closest friend and I couldn't bare to lose him.

"I build this hologram pad so that you can read everything that's being said Clint." Tony spoke as a 3d digital screen popped up from a small device on the ground with Tony's words on it,  
Clint nodded with a smile, seemingly more happy he could be involved now. I still saw the darkness hidden in his eyes, the pain he covered up. I could only see past his mask because I wore the same one most days.  
"Okay I'll go first, Wanda truth or dare?" Tony asked,  
"Truth." Wanda replied hesitantly,  
"Have you ever kissed someone? Like a real kiss."  
"Yes." Wanda blushed as she avoided her brothers flabbergasted look,  
"Wait, hold up. When did this happen!?" Pietro asked,  
"I don't have to say, it wasn't part of the truth." Wanda smirked triumphantly,  
I watched as everything we said popped up on the screen a few seconds after they spoke, it was fascinating. How Tony built it was beyond me. It made me slightly nervous, the fact it might record what I'm saying. Store it somewhere and use it against me. Why I was scared of that even I didn't know.  
"Okay, okay. Now you ask someone Wanda." Tony interrupted Pietro's protests,  
"Okay... Nat, truth or dare?"  
"Dare." Natasha replied confidently without pause,

Wanda sat in thought as the others leaned forward in excitement, so far nothing fun had really happened but I could tell it was the type of game to escalate quickly. A lot of hearts were broken from this game, I could tell. A lot of broken friendships and tons of embarrassment too.  
"I dare you to... draw a mustache on yourself with permanent marker."  
"Ohhhhhh!" Everyone choruses,  
I chuckled a little, watching Natasha hunt around for a marker. She then proceeded to draw the wonkiest mustache ever, even Clint was laughing.  
"Alright, let's make things a little more interesting. Tony, T or D?" Natasha asked,  
Tony thought about it before smirking. "D."  
"Great... I dare you to kiss, marry, kill, Sam, Steve and Wanda."  
Tony sat in thought. I was interested to see where Steve would fall, this could confirm my suspicions. With a sigh Tony answered.  
"Kill Sam, sorry buddy. Kiss Wanda and... marry Steve. BECAUSE I don't want to kill Wanda or Steve, I don't know them enough for that. Plus, I'm pretty sure Pietro would murder me if I said marry Wanda."

He definitely had a crush on Steve, this confirmed it. He could have easily chosen Wanda and told Pietro to calm down because it was just a game. It also hinted that Tony was gay, he didn't even blink an eye when Sam and Steve were said, didn't make any complains about having to kiss or marry a boy because there was only one girl choice. Was Tony gay? Probably, he liked Steve after all. Tony was also blushing and avoiding Steve's gaze, I looked at Steve to see how he was taking this. He looked a little surprised but other then that he seemed normal. Jeez Steve's oblivious, most people are to be honest though. Everyone was looking at Tony, waiting for him to choose someone.

"Fine, Bruce T or D."  
"T. I'm not stupid enough to accept a dare from you Tony." Bruce laughed,  
"Fiiiiiine. What's your most embarrassing secret?"  
"... I was five and I went to a farm for the first time, my... Mom went with my Dad somewhere and I was left at the farm while they were outside. I saw the chickens for the first time and went close to investigate. A rooster started to run at me full speed and I peed my pants I was so scared. It then proceeded to chase me all around as I screamed for my Mom, saying 'the chickens are crazy! It's the devil incarnate , Help!'" Bruce finished,  
We all started to laugh, I never expected calm Bruce to have an experience like that.  
"Awww Brucie bear! If only I'd known you had crazy secrets hidden up those purple sleeves!" Tony joked,  
"Боже, Тони буквально девять лет." (God, Tony is a literal nine year old.) Nat muttered in Russian,

девять, девять, девять... nine...  
My head flipped, something happened. Panic blared throughout me, my vision started to darken. She said a trigger word! My mind started screaming at me as my control started to slip, No! NO!  
I stood up and looked around with a desperate look in my eyes, I saw Steve staring at me in fear.  
"STEVE!" was the last thing I shouted as I lost control.


End file.
